What're the symptoms of pericarditis?
The classic symptoms of pericarditis are fever and chest pain. This chest pain can be either brief and sharp or steady and constricting. It usually centers under the breastbone, but it also can spread to the neck and/or shoulders. In many patients, chest pain becomes more severe if they take a deep breath, swallow, cough or lie down, but sitting up or leaning forward
may relieve the pain. Chest pain is usually felt behind the breast bone (sternum). The pain is described as sharp, often aggravated by deep breathing or coughing, and worsened by lying down. Unlike the chest pain experienced with coronary insufficiency (angina), the pain of pericarditis is constant and unrelated to exertion. Patients often report shortness of breath, in part due to their shallow breathing to minimize chest pain. Patients may also notice weakness, fever, and chills. Additional symptoms are often due to the underlying disease process.
Some patients with pericarditis develop fast heart rhythms (tachycardias). Rare patients develop rapid accumulation of fluid in the pericardial sac. This fluid causes compression of the heart muscle chambers, thereby limiting the amount of blood pumped to the rest of the body, and causing shock. This life-threatening condition, called pericardial tamponade, can occur in up to 15% of patients with pericarditis.
In patients whose acute pericarditis has progressed to cardiac tamponade, there can be low blood pressure and shortness of breath. Patients with constrictive pericarditis also can suffer from breathing difficulties, together with edema (swelling) of the ankles, legs and abdomen. |
