10th May 2025

Complications

There are many possible complications of pericardial disease, and as previously said, the diseases of  pericardial disease are often interconnected (e.g A pericardial effusion could grow large enough to cause  cardiac tamponade). Other complications include:  

• Recurrent pericarditis  
• Myopericarditis  
• Impaired cardiac function  
• Pathology related to treatment – high mortality rate in surgical pericardiectomy, puncture of  large vessels during pericardiocentesis  
• Heart failure  
• Shock – from tamponade/constrictive pericarditis  
• Hepatomegaly, pulmonary hypertension, renal failure – signs of right sided heart failure caused  by constrictive pericarditis  
• Death