Rapid progression of pericardial calcification in a patient with end-stage renal disease

Dialysis pericarditis is a relatively uncommon cause of pericardial constriction and may be found in patients with end-stage renal disease receiving adequate renal replacement therapy. We present a patient with end-stage renal disease maintained on chronic peritoneal dialysis who developed severe myopericardial calcification over a 2-month period demonstrated by sequential chest computed tomographic scanning. The characteristic hemodynamic findings of constrictive-effusive pericarditis, obtained during cardiac catheterization, are presented and discussed. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.