Constrictive pericardial disease following mitral valve replacement.

Constrictive pericardial disease developing after open heart surgery is not a well-recognized complication of this procedure. It has been reported only a few times and usually not with good hemodynamic data before and after the subsequent pericardiectomy. We presently report a patient who developed constrictive pericardial disease five years after mitral valve replacement. This was documented with left- and right-sided heart catheterization. The patient underwent pericardiectomy with remarkable clinical improvement. Repeat right- and left-sided heart catheterization done three months postoperatively documented the resolution of the constrictive hemodynamic pattern present before pericardiectomy.