Differential diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy and constrictive pericarditis

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Abstract
Constrictive pericarditis was recognised in the 19th century and its surgical treatment was developed early in the 20th century. Paul Wood noted in 1961 that only details had been added to the picture presented to the English speaking world by Paul Dudley White in his 1935 St Cyres lecture.1 , 2 White described a “chronic fibrous or callous thickening of the wall of the pericardial sac that is so contracted that the normal diastolic filling of the heart is prevented . . . There may or may not be calcification . . . Parietal pericardium or epicardium may be preponderantly involved . . . one area may be involved, other areas free . . . associated heart disease is extremely rare . . . insidious evolution makes diagnosis more difficult than that of active constrictive pericarditis”. A history of several years duration and a predominant clinical feature of ascites, simulating liver disease, were notable in White's series.