Adhesive pericarditis with constriction: clincal pattern and the assessment of surgical treatment efficiency

Two groups of patients with constrictive pericarditis were identified on the basis of clinical and instrumental examination including echocardiography and computerized tomography of the heart: patients with complete obliteration of the pericardial sac and constriction, and those with exudative/adhesive pericarditis and constriction. Part of the patients were subjected to subtotal pericardectomy. An improvement of left-ventricular disatolic function and hemodynamic parameters was demonstrated 1 to 1.5 months after the operation. Postoperative echocardiography showed persistent disorders of interventricular septum movement and multilayer abnormal echoes in the left-ventricular posterior wall area