Background: Since constrictive pericarditis is most often idiopathic and the pathophysiology remains largely unknown, both the diagnosis and the treatment can be challenging. However, by definition, inflammatory processes are central to this disease process. Amniotic membrane patches have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory properties and are believed to be immune privileged. Due to these properties, amniotic membrane patches were applied intraoperatively in a complicated patient presenting with constrictive pericarditis. Case presentation: A patient with a history of multiple cardiac surgeries presented with marked fatigue, worsening dyspnea and sinus tachycardia. He was found to have constrictive physiology during cardiac catheterization, with cardiac MRI demonstrating hepatic vein dilatation, atrial enlargement and ventricular narrowing. After amniotic membrane patch treatment and pericardiectomy, post-operative cardiac MRI failed to demonstrate any appreciable pericardial effusion or inflammation, with no increased T2 signal that would suggest edema. Conclusions: Given the positive results seen in this complex patient, we suggest continued research into the beneficial properties of amniotic membrane patches in cardiac surgery.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/622952 |
| Date | 26 January 2017 |
| Creators | Marsh, Katherine M., Ferng, Alice S., Pilikian, Tia, Desai, Ankit A., Avery, Ryan, Friedman, Mark, Oliva, Isabel, Jokerst, Clint, Schipper, David, Khalpey, Zain |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Surg, Div Cardiothorac Surg, Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Internal Med, Div Cardiol, Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Med Imaging, Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Physiol Sci, Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Univ Arizona, Coll Med, Dept Translat & Regenerat Med |
| Publisher | BIOMED CENTRAL LTD |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 |
| Relation | http://cardiothoracicsurgery.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13019-017-0567-7 |
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