Pericarditis - after heart attack

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Acute MI

Pericardium

Post-MI pericarditis

Dressler's syndrome; Post-MI pericarditis; Post-cardiac injury syndrome; Postcardiotomy pericarditis

• Chest pain
  • May come and go (recur)
  • Pain moves to the neck, shoulder, back, or abdomen
  • Pain may be sharp and stabbing (pleuritic) or tight and crushing (ischemic)
  • Pain may get worse when breathing and may be go away when you stand or sit up
• Splinting of ribs (bending over or holding the chest) with deep breathing
• Difficulty breathing
• Dry cough
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Fever
• General ill feeling (malaise)
• Fast heart rate (tachycardia)

The health care provider will use a stethoscope to listen to the heart and lungs. There may be a rubbing sound (not be confused with a murmur), and heart sounds in general may be weak or sound far away.

Build up of fluid in the covering of the heart or space around the lungs (pleural effusion) is not common after heart attack. But, it does occur in some patients with Dressler's syndrome.

Tests may include:

• Chest x-ray
• Echocardiogram
• Chest MRI
• Chest CT scan
• ECG
• Cardiac markers (CK-MB and troponin may help distinguish pericarditis from a heart attack)
• Complete blood count shows increased white blood cells
• ESR (sedimentation rate) is high

Review Date: 07/20/2006
Reviewed By: Glenn Gandelman, MD, MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.