Cardiomyopathy and pericardial tamponade in ulcerative colitis

Cardiac complications of inflammatory bowel disease are rare; the most commonly reported complication is pericarditis. Drugs containing 5-aminosalicylic acid have been implicated as the cause of pericarditis in inflammatory bowel disease. A male patient with ulcerative colitis who was not taking any 5-aminosalicylic acid-containing drugs, but who developed a severe myopericarditis mimicking an acute myocardial infarction, is described. He subsequently required therapeutic pericardiocentesis for his worsening cardiac tamponade. The literature on cardiac complications of inflammatory bowel disease is reviewed.