Congenital Absence of Pericardium: The Swinging Heart

Abstract

Congenital absence of the pericardium (CAP) is an unusual condition discovered, in most cases, incidentally but can potentially lead to fatal complications, including severe arrhythmias and sudden death. Recently, the use of modern imaging technologies has increased the diagnosis of CAP, providing important findings for risk stratification. Nevertheless, there is not yet consensus regarding therapeutic decisions, and the management of patients with CAP remains challenging. In this paper, we discuss the pathophysiological implication of CAP, review the current literature and explain the role of multimodality imaging tools for its diagnosis, management and treatment.

Keywords

• congenital pericardium absence
• congenital disease
• echocardiography
• cardiac computed tomography
• cardiac magnetic resonance