Friday, February, 10, 2012

Pericarditis - bacterial

Table of Contents

Alternative Names

Purulent pericarditis


Symptoms
  • Chest pain
  • May move (radiate) to the neck, shoulder, back, or abdomen
  • Pain increases with breathing
  • Sharp, stabbing
  • Sitting up or standing relieves pain
  • Chills
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Dry cough
  • Fatigue
  • Fever
  • Splinting of ribs with deep breathing (bend over and hold chest when breathing)
  • Sweating

Signs and tests

Signs include:

  • Faint or far away sounding heart sounds
  • Rubbing sound heard when listening to the heart through a stethoscope
  • Septic shock
  • Signs of fluid in the pericardium (pericardial effusion)
  • Signs of fluid in the space around the lungs (pleural effusion), such as decreased breath sounds
  • Signs of pneumonia

Doctors may suspect pericarditis when one of the following tests shows an abnormal amount of fluid in the pericardial sac:

  • Chest CT scan
  • Chest MRI scan
  • Chest x-ray
  • Echocardiogram

This condition is diagnosed when the fluid around the pericardial sac is shown to be infected with bacteria. The following tests help doctors make this diagnosis:

  • Blood cultures
  • CBC showing increased WBC count
  • Pericardial fluid culture
  • Pericardial fluid gram stain

Review Date: 05/06/2010
Reviewed By: Issam Mikati, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.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)