[Acute pericarditis in pregnancy. Report of a case]

In this study the authors describe a case of acute pericarditis occurring at 26 weeks' gestation in a woman affected by Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome and with a history of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and autoimmune hypothyroidism. The patient was first admitted to the 4th Medical Pathology Unit of the University of Florence, where moderate pericardic effusion with no evidence of heart tamponade was documented by ultrasound scan. Subsequently the patient was cared for on outpatient basis at the Centre of Perinatal Medicine of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Florence. Since all examinations and tests aimed at defining the etiology of pericardial effusion were negative, an idiopathic acute pericarditis was diagnosed. The patient was given prednisone at a dose of 75 mg per day; owing to episodes of paroxystic atrial fibrillation, propaphenon was also administered intravenously to treat acute episodes and orally as prophylaxis. The patient underwent close control of both heart function (by means of ultrasound scans of the heart and dynamic EKG) and pregnancy (blood tests, ultrasound scans and Doppler velocimetry). At 36.5 weeks' gestation a healthy fetus was spontaneously delivered. Three months after delivery, the patient underwent an ultrasound scan that demonstrated the complete reabsorption of the effusion.