Coronary angiography in constrictive pericarditis

Normally, systolic movement of the coronary arteries results in 1) shortening in length, thereby increasing tortuosity, and 2) movement of the arteries towards each other. In ten patients with constrictive pericarditis, several sections of the vessels were fixed. Vascular fixation was also observed in nine out of ten patients after aortocoronary bypass operations, but only in right ventricular branches. Decreased movement of the coronary arteries was found in occasional cases of congestive cardiomyopathy with large ventricles and reduced ejection fractions, and sometimes in akinesia of the myocardium, due to coronary sclerosis. Fixation of several coronary branches can therefore contribute to the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. (orig.)