Key result
Antitubercular medication plus corticosteroids is linked to an ~85% reduction in constrictive pericarditis at 6 months.
Why the study?
Tubercular pericarditis is an important extrapulmonary form associated with high morbidity and mortality, prompting an assessment of its clinical trajectory via serial echocardiography and medical therapy outcomes.
Observational (n=54)
No
Medical therapy including antitubercular medication and adjuvant corticosteroids is associated with a significant reduction in echocardiographic evidence of constrictive pericarditis over 6 months in immunocompetent adults with tubercular pericarditis.
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May support medical therapy in tuberculous pericarditis; leaves open need for randomized confirmation.
Objective: Tubercular (TB) pericarditis is an important form of extrapulmonary TB that is associated with high morbidity and mortality.This observational study was conducted to assess the clinical trajectory or disease progression in tubercular pericarditis using serial echocardiography and to study outcomes of medical therapy in cases with TB pericarditis.Materials and methods: This study was conducted among 54 cases of TB pericarditis enrolled in the Department of Cardiology, GMC, Nagpur.All patients underwent evaluation, including medical history, laboratory investigations, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and transthoracic echocardiography at diagnosis and after 6 months. Results:The mean age of study subjects was 44.45 ± 5.86 years.Half of our subjects were male (28/54).The most common comorbidity was diabetes mellitus (26/54, 48.14%).Most of the patients (n = 38, 70.37%) were treated with adjuvant corticosteroid therapy.Pericardial effusion (PE) analysis was done in 31 cases, out of which lymphocyte-dominant exudate was found in 20 (64.51%) cases.The patients were categorized as: (i) isolated PE (n = 28, 51.85%), (ii) "constrictive pericarditis" (n = 8, 14.81%), and (iii) "effusive constrictive pericarditis" (n = 12, 22.22%), depending on the echocardiography study at initial diagnosis.There was a gradual reduction in the proportion of patients diagnosed as constrictive pericarditis over time, starting from 20 patients (37.04%) at the time of diagnosis, 9 patients (16.67%) after 1 month, and only 3 patients (5.56%) after 6 months. Conclusion:There was a gradual reduction in the proportion of patients diagnosed as constrictive pericarditis over time with antitubercular medication along with adjuvant corticosteroid therapy.
Yadav et al. (2026) conducted an observational in Tubercular pericarditis (n=54). Antitubercular medication and adjuvant corticosteroid therapy was evaluated on Proportion of patients diagnosed as constrictive pericarditis. Antitubercular medication with adjuvant corticosteroid therapy was associated with a reduction in constrictive pericarditis from 37.04% at diagnosis to 5.56% after 6 months.
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