Dressler syndrome; Post-MI pericarditis; Post-cardiac injury syndrome; Postcardiotomy pericarditis

• Anxiety
• Chest pain
  • May come and go (recur)
  • Pain may be sharp and stabbing (pleuritic) or tight and crushing (ischemic)
  • Pain may get worse when breathing and may go away when you stand or sit up
  • Pain moves to the neck, shoulder, back, or abdomen
• Difficulty breathing
• Dry cough
• Fast heart rate (tachycardia)
• Fatigue
• Fever (more common with the second type of pericarditis)
• Malaise (general ill feeling)
• Splinting of ribs (bending over or holding the chest) with deep breathing

The health care provider will use a stethoscope to listen to your heart and lungs. There may be a rubbing sound (called a pericardial friction rub, not to be confused with a heart murmur). Heart sounds in general may be weak or sound far away.

A buildup of fluid in the covering of the heart or space around the lungs (pericardial effusion) is not common after a heart attack. But, it often does occur in some patients with Dressler's syndrome.

Tests may include:

• Cardiac injury markers (CK-MB and troponin may help tell pericarditis from a heart attack)
• Chest CT scan
• Chest MRI
• Chest x-ray
• Complete blood count
• ECG
• Echocardiogram
• ESR (sedimentation rate) or C-reactive protein (measures of inflammation)

Images

Post-MI pericarditis

Acute MI

Pericardium

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Pericarditis Overview

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Pericarditis Treatment

Review Date: 07/10/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Unviersity of Washington School of Medicine; and Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)