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CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 32, No 3, May/June 2021
AFRICA
169
or due to tuberculosis, prior cardiac surgery, post-mediastinal
radiation therapy, connective tissue disease, infection, uraemia and
sarcoidosis.
1
Fibrotic and calcified pericardium restricts diastolic
function, thereby reducing cardiac output. The surgical result
of CP is unfavourable, with an early mortality rate of 6–7.6%.
Furthermore, the commonly observed postoperative low-output
syndrome is aggravated because of degeneration of the myocardium
due to poor cardiac function after inadequate pericardiectomy.
2,3
Fig. 1.
The pre-operative computed tomography scans acquired before the previous operation show a single layer of calcified peri-
cardium enveloping the whole surface of the heart (A: sagittal plane; B: coronal plane).
A
B
Fig. 2.
The computed tomography scans acquired prior to the second operation indicate that calcification did not exist on the ante-
rior pericardium, but instead was present on the inferior, posterior, and lateral portion of the pericardium. Notably, calcifica-
tion along the inferior portions of the heart formed a calcium envelope structure between the heart and the diaphragm (A:
sagittal plane; B: coronal plane).
A
B