heart and blood vessel disorders
Acute Pericarditis
Symptoms of Acute Pericarditis
Usually acute pericarditis causes sharp chest pain, which often extends to the left shoulder and sometimes down the left arm. The pain may be similar to that of a heart attack, except that it tends to be made worse by lying down, swallowing food, coughing, or even deep breathing. The accumulating fluid or blood in the pericardial space puts pressure on the heart, interfering with its ability to pump blood. If the pressure is too high, Cardiac Tamponade —a potentially fatal condition—may occur. Sometimes acute pericarditis does not cause any symptoms. Pericarditis due to tuberculosis begins insidiously, sometimes without obvious symptoms of infection. It may cause fever and symptoms of heart failure, such as weakness, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. Cardiac tamponade may occur. Acute pericarditis due to a viral infection is usually painful but short-lived and has no lasting effects. When acute pericarditis develops in the first day or two after a Acute Coronary Syndromes (Heart Attack; Myocardial Infarction; Unstable Angina) , symptoms of pericarditis are seldom noticed because symptoms of the heart attack are the main concern. Pericarditis that develops about 10 days to 2 months after a heart attack is usually accompanied by Pericarditis (Dressler syndrome), which includes fever, pericardial effusion (extra fluid in the pericardial space), pleuritic pain (pain due to inflammation of the pleura, which are the membranes covering the lungs), pleural effusion (fluid between the two layers of the pleura), and joint pain. Symptoms of acute pericarditis often go away on their own but come back in up to 30% of people. In 15 to 25 percent of people with idiopathic pericarditis, symptoms recur on and off for months or years (called recurrent pericarditis). 