[Constrictive pericarditis and Whipple's disease]

Abstract

The authors report the case of a 61 year-old patient treated by tetracycline for very probable Whipple's disease who developed constrictive pericarditis requiring pericardectomy. Although intestinal biopsy was negative, histological examination of the resected pericardium was very suggestive of a cardiac localisation of Whipple's disease, showing a fibrous pericarditis with a mononuclear infiltration including PAS-positive histiocytes. In addition, the same histological changes were found in a small fragment of myocardial biopsy. This case illustrates the prevalence and consequences of cardiac involvement in Whipple's disease.