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Pulmonary venous flow in constrictive pericarditis
O M Shapira1, G P Connelley, G S Aldea
1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
Clinical Cardiology
|April 1, 1995
Abstract:
A 35-year-old white female patient presented with radiation-induced constrictive pericarditis. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography revealed a uniphasic diastolic flow pattern. This pulmonary flow pattern reverted to a normal biphasic systolic/diastolic profile immediately following radical pericardiectomy. This abnormal flow pattern was previously described as typical for restrictive cardiomyopathy. However, in this case it is most likely due to a marked decrease in left atrial compliance induced by the thick fibrous scar encasing the atrial.