Overview
Dressler’s syndrome – also called post-myocardial infarction, postpericardiotomy syndrome, and post-cardiac injury syndrome – is a condition that creates inflammation in the sac that surrounds the heart tissue called the pericardium. It is thought to be caused by a response in the immune system after the pericardium or heart muscle has suffered some sort of damage. Consequently, it is most frequently seen after heart attack, traumatic injury, and surgery.
In recent years, improvements have been made in how heart attacks are treated. As a result, Dressler’s syndrome is less prevalent than it has been in the past, affecting only between ten and forty percent of heart surgery patients. Most of the time it only occurs once. However,
Dressler’s syndrome – also called post-myocardial infarction, postpericardiotomy syndrome, and post-cardiac injury syndrome – is a condition that creates inflammation in the sac that surrounds the heart tissue called the pericardium. It is thought to be caused by a response in the immune system after the pericardium or heart muscle has suffered some sort of damage. Consequently, it is most frequently seen after heart attack, traumatic injury, and surgery.
In recent years, improvements have been made in how heart attacks are treated. As a result, Dressler’s syndrome is less prevalent than it has been in the past, affecting only between ten and forty percent of heart surgery patients. Most of the time it only occurs once. However,