Surgical experience of chronic constrictive pericarditis at Quetta,Pakistan

Objective: to determine causes,surgical techniques,mortality and morbidity rates,and improvement of functional capacity. subjects and method: this retrospective study was conducted at sandman (provincial) hospital,quetta were carried out during april 1995 to may 2011. we operated on 18 patients with a diagnosis of chronic constrictive pericarditis. sixteen of them were men and 2 were women. the average age was 39.3 years (range,17 to 63 yrs). the most frequent complaints were dyspnea,weakness,fatigue,chest pain,and fever. the cause of the chronic constrictive pericarditis was tuberculosis and auscultation revealed pericardial frictions rub in all patients. our main diagnostic criteria were clinical presentation and 2-d echocardiography; a left anteriolateral thoracotomy was employed for approaching the pericardium in all patients. pericardiectomy can be performed safely as the primary surgical therapy. results: sixteen of our patients were men and two were women. postoperative complications were arrhythmia,low cardiac output,there was one early postoperative death due to low cardiac out put and during the 1st postoperative month,the functional capacity of our patients improved dramatically. their ascities and peripheral edema were also improved. conclusion: chronic constructive pericarditis is common disease in our country. if properly diagnosed,investigated and referred early,it can be successfully treated even in centers with limited facilities like bolan medical college quetta.