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Acute Pericarditis

Categories: Uncategorized
Sources: Disturbances Of The Heart

As this inflammation is generally secondary to some other condition,

its treatment cannot be positively outlined. Furthermore, it is

often a terminal condition, and in such instances the results of

treatment are of necessity nil. The most frequent terminal cause is

nephritis; other terminal causes are pulmonary tuberculosis,

adjacent abscesses, cancer or other growth.



The most frequent infectious cause is
rheumatism; other infectious

causes are cerebrospinal fever, typhoid fever, acute miliary

tuberculosis, pneumonia and Sepsis. Accidental causes are traumatism

and an adjacent inflammation of the pleura.



The result of an inflammation of the pericardium may be a fibrous

exudate, or an exudate which is both serous and fibrous, or one in

which pus is present in considerable amount.



The onset of pericarditis may be more or less acute, or it may

commence insidiously. For this reason, during severe illness, and

especially in those diseases which are known to have pericarditis

often as a sequence, frequent examination of the heart should be

made as a routine procedure.



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