Clinical, microbiologic and therapeutic aspects of purulent pericarditis

Twenty-six patients with purulent pericarditis were seen at the Massachusetts General Hospital between 1960 and 1974. The diagnosis was made in 18 of them during life, but only 6 survived, with an over-all mortality rate of 77 per cent. In eight patients, purulent pericarditis developed in the early postoperative period after thoracic surgery. In seven, purulent pericarditis was the result of contiguous spread of infection from a pleural, mediastinal or pulmonary focus in nonsurgical patients. In five patients, it was the result of direct spread to the pericardium from an intracardiac infection. In the remaining six patients, purulent pericarditis developed as the result of a systemic bactermia. Immunosuppressive therapy, extensive thermal burns, lymphoproliferative disease and other systemic processes affecting host resistance were present in at least half the patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the etiologic agent in the largest number of patients (8 of 26 in this report). However, in contrast to previous studies, in a significant number of the patients (five), purulent pericarditis was the result of fungal infection (in three patients subjected to thoracic surgery and in two immunosuppressed patients). This report confirms that purulent pericarditis is an acute disease with a fulminant course. The diagnosis is easily missed since classic signs of pericarditis (including chest pain, friction rub and diagnostic electrocardiographic abnormalities) may be absent. The echocardiogram shows considerable promise in allowing earlier diagnosis of the pericardial effusion which accompanies purulent pericarditis. Optimal therapy consists of prolonged antibiotic therapy and aggressive drainage of the pericardium. In this series, there were 6 survivors among the 11 patients (55 per cent) who received appropriate therapy.