Constrictive pericarditis – A challenging diagnosis

Abstract

Constrictive pericarditis is a challenging diagnosis. This case report describes a patient with constrictive pericarditis (CP) secondary to radiation therapy. As the patient presented with non-specific symptoms, various modalities (both invasive and non-invasive) were used in the diagnosis and differentiation of CP from restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). This case of surgicallyproven CP demonstrates that a high clinical suspicion based on physical findings should be combined with multiple diagnostic modalities in the diagnosis of CP. It is crucial to differentiate CP from RCM due to the significant variance in treatment.