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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Resistant Pericarditis
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Resistant Pericarditis
by Wendy--8-4-98, Aug 04, 1998 12:00AM
I am a 33 year old female and have had pericarditis since November, 1997 as a result of an ASD repair in mid- October, 1997. I am being treated with a combination of prednisone and colchicine. My question - is there any other treatment/medications/
available to treat resistant pericarditis? I had gotten off of prednisone for
about a month and a half and been down to .3mg of colchicine, only to have a relapse. I now seem to be having a difficult time reducing the prednisone dosage. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD APS, Aug 04, 1998 12:00AM
Dear Wendy,
I apologize for the delay in answering your question, however I must admit there
is very little out there on resistant pericarditis except steroid treatments and
colchicine. I was hoping to find a case report or the like but I need more time
to try some other sources. As you may already know, this can be an immunologically
mediated process, that is to say, your body has stored significant memory cells
regarding this process. It must be very frustrating to have decreased your medications
as such only to have a relapse so to speak, but certainly you should not give up
hope. I will follow with more following a current literature search, meanwhile ask your
cardiologist if he knows of any new treatment protocols that you could consider. I presume
you know that long term steroid use does have significant consequences and that this is the reason
you are so interested in reducing and getting off of them. There is one other point I would like
to make, and that is that in the case where things do not go as expected in an otherwise young woman
it behoves you to have a general internist or one that specializes in immunology to evaluate you for
any other possible contributing factors. (in short are there any other disease conditions or processes that
are contributing to your recurrent pericarditis). Good Luck. Information provided in the heart forum is
intended for general medical informational purposes only, actual diagnosis and treatment can only be made by your
physician(s).
