Pericarditis, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

by Kenneth Kee

Overview

Pericarditis is a cardiac disorder where the pericardiac sac surrounding the heart and roots of the great vessels coming from the heart is inflamed.
Pericarditis is caused by:
A. Infections
1. Bacterial- streptococcus
2. Viral - cytomegalovirus, enterovirus, influenza virus, hepatitis B virus, adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus
3. Mycotic
4. Tuberculosis
B. Non- infection:
1. Autoimmune diseases include:
a. Rheumatic fever
b. Rheumatoid arthritis
c. Systemic lupus erythrematosis
d. Drug induced
2. Neoplastic
3. Uremia
4. Myxedema
5. Trauma
6. Myocardial infarction
7. Myocarditis,
8. Dissecting aortic aneurysm,
9. Radiation
Symptoms:
1. Chest pain of sudden onset in the anterior chest
2. Pain is sharp and becomes worse with inspiration due to pleural inflammation.
3. Pain is relieved with sitting up and leaning forward and become worse on lying down
4. Pericardial rub is a typical sign of acute pericarditis.
This rub is best heard at the left sternal border as a squeaky or scratching sound using the diaphragm of the stethoscope.
The pericardial rub is due to the friction generated by the two inflamed layers of the pericardium.
Diagnosis is by:
Classic feature of chest pain and dyspnea with pericarditis
ECG can be diagnostic in acute pericarditis and evolves in 4 stages.
Stage 1 accompanies the onset of acute pain
Stage 2 occurs several days later with the return of the ST segment to baseline
Stage 3 ECG changes are T waves become inverted in stage 3 but without Q-wave formation
Stage 4 ECG changes are the ECG returns to the prepericarditis baseline weeks to months after the initial onset
The T-wave inversion may persist indefinitely in the chronic inflammation observed with tuberculosis, uremia, or neoplasm
However, only 50% of patients with pericarditis experience all 4 stages.
An important ECG finding is PR-segment depression, which has been reported in as many as 80% of viral pericarditis cases.
MRI is sensitive for detecting pericardial effusion and loculated pericardial effusion and thickening.
Pericardiocentesis is relatively safe when guided by echocardiography, especially with large free anterior effusion
Treatments may include medicines and, less often, procedures or surgery.
Medical treatment are:
Antibiotics
NSAIDs
Surgical procedures for pericarditis include pericardiectomy, pericardiocentesis, pericardial window placement, and pericardiotomy.
Pericardiectomy is the most effective surgical procedure for managing large effusions, because it has the lowest associated risk of recurrent effusions
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Pericarditis
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Coronary Heart Disease
Chapter 8 Cardiomyopathy
Epilogue

Product Details

BN ID:	2940153995755
Publisher:	Kenneth Kee
Publication date:	02/01/2017
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	141 KB

About the Author

Medical doctor since 1972.

Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.

Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.

Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74

However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in
the afternoon.

He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.

His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com

This autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.

He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.

He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.
For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.
The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.

The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.

He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.

His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.

The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.

He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) starting
with the Apple computer and going to PC.

The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.

The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.

He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.

His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.

The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.

This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.

Dr Kee is the author of:

"A Family Doctor's Tale"

"Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine"

"Case Notes From A Family Doctor"