Report of a case of purulent pericarditis in a post cholecystectomy patient

Abstract

Introduction: purulent pericarditis is defined as an inflammation of the pericardium associated with the occupation of the pericardial sac by purulent fluid. It is an entity of low incidence, representing a small percentage of the causes of acute or sub-acute pericarditis. Its early clinical identification is not easy in the absence of obvious primary infection. Case report: a 73-year-old male patient of mixed race, from a rural area with a history of biliary lithiasis and cholecystectomy 15 days before, he was brought to the on-call department of the Internal Medicine Service, referred from the polyclinic of his health area, for presenting precordial pain. Acute myocardial infarction was suspected, after that an acute idiopathic pericarditis and treatment was applied according to the protocol of the institution. The patient died and as a result of the autopsy the diagnosis of purulent pericarditis was made. Conclusions: purulent pericarditis, despite being an infrequent entity, should be suspected in patients presenting a septic focus, with or without typical symptoms; furthermore, it may be a complication of surgical interventions such as cholecystectomy.

Keywords

• pericarditis
• colecistectomía
• complicaciones posoperatorias
• cardiopatías