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The diagnosis of purulent pericarditis requires a combination of clinical assessment, laboratory tests, and imaging studies. Pericardiocentesis with evaluation of pericardial fluid by culture and microscopy is necessary to make the diagnosis, however several other findings may increase the likelihood of purulent pericarditis.
The original scoring system was developed before the invention of pulse oximetry and used the patient's colouration as a surrogate marker of their oxygenation status. A modified Aldrete scoring system was described in 1995 [2] which replaces the assessment of skin colouration with the use of pulse oximetry to measure SpO 2.
In this case, the patient is experiencing post-myocardial infarction pericarditis (PIP), which is characterized by chest pain, low-grade fever, and specific findings on physical examination and electrocardiogram. Aspirin is the drug of choice for PIP and is usually already prescribed for secondary prevention following a myocardial infarction.
It should be considered in all patients with acute pericarditis, preferably in combination with a short-course of NSAIDs. [10] For patients with a first episode of acute idiopathic or viral pericarditis, they should be treated with an NSAID plus colchicine 1–2 mg on first day followed by 0.5 daily or twice daily for three months.
The pericardium is a double-walled sac around the heart.The inner and outer (visceral and parietal, respectively) layers are normally lubricated by a small amount of pericardial fluid, but the inflammation of pericardium causes the walls to rub against each other with audible friction.
During medical doctor examination, a pericardial friction rub can be auscultated indicating pericarditis. Auscultation of the lungs can show crackles indicating pulmonary infiltration, and there can be retrosternal/pleuritic chest pain worse on inspiration (breathing in). Patient can also depict sweating (diaphoresis) and agitation or anxiety.
Patients who present with dyspnea or chest pain have a broad differential diagnosis and it may be necessary to rule out other causes like myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, acute pericarditis, pneumonia, and esophageal rupture. [2] Initial tests include electrocardiography (ECG) and chest x-ray.
In medicine, Friedreich's sign is the exaggerated drop in diastolic central venous pressure seen in constrictive pericarditis (particularly with a stiff calcified pericardium) and manifested as abrupt collapse of the neck veins or marked descent of the central venous pressure waveform. The normal jugular venous waveform contains two descents, x ...