Acute pericarditis
Acute pericarditis, a diffuse inflammation of the pericardial
sac and superficial myocardium, has a number of underlying
causes. These include infection (primarily viral), immunologic
disorders, uremia, trauma, malignancy, cardiac ischemia and
acute myocardial infarction.1 In clinical practice using a traditional
diagnostic approach, idiopathic and viral acute pericarditis
is found in 80–90% of cases in immunocompetent
patients from developed countries.2 The incidence of pericarditis
in postmortem studies ranges from 1–6%, whereas it
is diagnosed antemortem in only 0.1% of hospitalized patients
and in 5% of patients seen in EDs with chest pain without
myocardial infarction.3 The possible sequelae of pericarditis
include cardiac tamponade, recurrent pericarditis and pericardial