Congenital complete absence of pericardium in a young woman with non-specific symptoms

Congenital complete absence of pericardium in a young woman with non-specific symptoms.

Congenital absence of the pericardium is a very rare entity that is usually asymptomatic and hence difficult to diagnose. However, cases of sudden death have been reported in patients with partial pericardial defects (even asymptomatic ones), and such patients require surgical treatment. We report the case of a 17-year-old patient with complete pericardial agenesis (diagnosed by chance during a...

Congenital complete absence of pericardium in a young woman with non-specific symptoms

Congenital complete absence of the pericardium.

A38-year-old woman with ill-defined chest pain had an abnormal x-ray 8 years before her only pregnancy. She had been unable to bear down during delivery, but gestation was otherwise uncomplicated, yielding a normal female offspring. She subsequently experienced left-sided chest pain that awakened her from sleep when turning into either a right or left lateral decubitus position. The pain was pu...

Congenital complete absence of left pericardium. Report of two cases.

Congenital absence of the pericardium is rare. In 7,500 necropsies cross-indexed since 1949 in the Department of Pathology, University of Otago, none was recorded, while in 12,000 recorded necropsies since 1921, only one was seen (D'Ath, 1969). The defect may be partial or complete. Though first described by Realdus Columbus in 1559, and thereafter noted as an unusual necropsy finding (Rusby an...

Congenital Absence of the Pericardium

Congenital absence of the pericardium is a rare cardiac malformation and is most often asymptomatic. It is usually discovered as an incidental finding. Physical examination, chest radiography, and electrocardiogram are often unremarkable. Echocardiography provides valuable information, and sometimes computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging is needed for subsequent confirmation.