窄縮性包膜炎一般報告大都發生在成人,本文報告一個4歲男孩因臉部浮腫、腹脹及呼吸因難而住院。理學檢查、胸部X光、心電圖、心臓超音波圖及心臓導管檢查結果均與窄縮性心包膜炎相符並經開刀證實。雖然結核菌引起之機會最大,但本病例並無證據顯示結核感染,故未予特殊藥物治療,病人目前繼續在門診作追踪檢查。
In constrictive pericarditis, a relatively rare disease of infants and children, cardiac filling is impaired by fibrotic changes and constriction of the pericardium. The disease is usually fatal if untreated, but is curable by timely radical pericar-diectomy. This paper presents a case of constrictive pericarditis that developed in a 4-year-old boy with the complaints of intermittent puffy face, abdominal distention, exertional dyspnea of about two years. The hemodynamic changes were compatible with constrictive pericarditis. This patient received thorough decortication of the heart, i.e. radical pericardiectomy. The postoperative course was uneventful; he improved and has remained well until the present.