Why the study?
Bacterial pericarditis is a rare, fulminant disease requiring prompt management that typically arises from adjacent or distant septic foci, but it can present indolently without typical predisposing risk factors.
Purulent pericarditis can present in an indolent manner without typical predisposing risk factors and can be successfully managed with drainage and antibiotics.
Alerts clinicians to rare primary S. aureus pericarditis without predisposing factors; leaves open optimal management strategies.
Bacterial pericarditis is a rare but fulminant disease that requires prompt diagnosis and management. It most commonly occurs from direct extension of an adjacent focus of infection or by hematogenous spread to the pericardium from more distant septic foci. Predisposing risk factors include immunosuppression, uremia, collagen vascular disease and thoracic surgery. We present the case of a 77-year-old gentleman with no previous pericardial disease who was diagnosed with primary Staphylococcus aureus pericarditis. The patient was treated with percutaneous pericardial effusion drainage and appropriate antibiotics resulting in complete resolution of his symptoms. This unusual case emphasizes that although it is frequently associated with significant morbidity and mortality, purulent pericarditis can present in a more indolent manner and in the absence of typical predisposing risk factors.
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Aziz et al. (2020) studied this question.
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