COVID-Related Constrictive Pericarditis Requiring Pericardiectomy: A Case Report
Rachel Boyles, Joseph Lu, Joseph Yoo, Louis Samuels.
The COVID-19 pandemic was primarily considered a respiratory malady in the early phases of the outbreak. However, as more patients suffered with the illness, a myriad of symptoms emerged in organ systems separate from the lungs. Among those patients with cardiac involvement, myocarditis, pericarditis, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia were among the most common manifestations encountered. Pericarditis with pericardial effusion requiring medical or interventional treatments have been previously reported in the acute setting. However, chronic pericarditis with pericardial thickening resulting in constriction requiring sternotomy and pericardiectomy has not been published to date. A patient with COVID-19 associated constrictive pericarditis three years following the viral infection requiring pericardiectomy is reported. Descriptions of the clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic features are illustrated. This case adds to the spectrum of COVID-19 related cardiac conditions and its treatment is believed to be the first reported of its kind.
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