We report a case of two babies with absence of pericardium and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The absence of pericardium was found coincidentally during PDA ligation. The PDA was successfully ligated but the pericardium was not reconstructed. Postoperatively, the agenesis of the pericardium did not interfere with cardiac function.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate clinically and by Doppler Echocardiography 22 patients submitted to mitral valve repair after valvular regurgitation using standardized bovine pericardium chordae. METHODS The patients had degenerative mitral regurgitation. Fourteen (63.6%) patients were male and the age ranged from 19 to 76 years (mean 56.8 ± 13.8 years). The strings of bovine pericardium treated with g...

Bovine pericardium is used for heart valve leaflet replacement where the strength and thinness are critical properties. Pericardium from neonatal animals (4-7 days old) is advantageously thinner and is considered as an alternative to that from adult animals. Here, the structures of adult and neonatal bovine pericardium tissues fixed with glutaraldehyde are characterized by synchrotron-based sma...

Postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is a frequent complication of various cardiac procedures that involve entry into the pericardium, but rarely occurs after pulmonary surgery because the pericardium is usually preserved during this procedure. The standard treatment for PPS is the administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Recent studies have indicated however, that colchic...

Epicardial adipose tissue is a visceral fat originated from splanchnophrenic mesothelial cells and has same origin with mesenteric and omental fat. It is located between the parietal and visceral pericardium. Although paracardial fat on external surface of the parietal pericardium is located very close to the epicardial fat, it’s origin-the primitive thoracic mesenchyme, is different from epica...

congenital defects of the pericardium are considered rare. until 1979 , the reported cases were only about 200.1 total absence of the left pericardium is the most common defect2 and less common is a partial defect of the left pericardium. other types, i.e. isolated right-sided defects, total pericardial absence and diaphragmatic pericardial defects are very rare.3 before the last decade, the di...