Abstract:
Background: Acute pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium that begins suddenly, is often painful, and causes fluid and blood components to
enter the pericardial space. Acute pericarditis has numerous causes. However, in developed countries, roughly 80 to 90% of cases are idiopathic; that
is, no specific cause is identified after routine evaluation. It is assumed that these cases are viral. The remaining 10 to 20% of cases are most commonly
associated with post–cardiac injury syndromes, connective-tissue diseases, or cancer [1]. The true incidence of the disease is unknown, it is estimated
that it accounts for 5% of emergency department visits for chest pain in the absence of myocardial infarction [2]. New diagnostic strategies have been
proposed for the triage of patients with pericarditis and when additional diagnostic investigations are required to perform [3]. Major advances have
occurred in therapy with the first multicentre randomized clinical trials.Colchicine has been demonstrated as a first-line drug to be added to conventional
antiinflammatory therapies in patients with a first episode of pericarditis or recurrences [3,4]. The information presented here, also contains a clinical
case of a patient admited to the cardiology clinic with pericardial effusion in acute pericarditis.
Conclusions: In the field of pericardial diseases there are a limited number of randomized controlled trials. Significant new data have become available
since 2004, and the new version of recent guidelines published in 2015 have a great impact for clinical practice.
