Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Weerakkody Y, Bell D, Pericardial thickening. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 30 Dec 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-68947
Pericardial thickening refers to an abnormally thickened state of the pericardium and may occur in inflammatory (i.e. pericarditis) as well as non-inflammatory situations.
Many consider a maximum thickness ~2 mm (as measured on CT/MRI) as the upper limit of normal, with a thickness greater than 4 mm as abnormal pericardial thickening 3.
The pericardial thickness varies over different parts of the heart and is reported to be thinnest over the left ventricle.
The "visualized thickness" of pericardium may also depend on image resolution. Bull et al, reported that when using 1 mm high-resolution CT, the upper limit of the thinnest part of the pericardium was 0.7 mm and when using 10 mm CT slices was 1.2 mm.
Pericardial thickening can occur in various forms (i.e.uniform/nodular) and may or may not be accompanied by a pericardial effusion.
-
1. O'Leary SM, Williams PL, Williams MP, Edwards AJ, Roobottom CA, Morgan-Hughes GJ, Manghat NE. Imaging the pericardium: appearances on ECG-gated 64-detector row cardiac computed tomography. (2010) The British journal of radiology. 83 (987): 194-205. doi:10.1259/bjr/55699491 - Pubmed
-
2. Jan Bogaert, Marco Francone. Pericardial Disease: Value of CT and MR Imaging. (2013) Radiology. 267 (2): 340-56. doi:10.1148/radiol.13121059 - Pubmed
-
3. Zhen J. Wang, Gautham P. Reddy, Michael B. Gotway, Benjamin M. Yeh, Steven W. Hetts, Charles B. Higgins. CT and MR Imaging of Pericardial Disease1. (2003) RadioGraphics. 23 Spec No: S167-80. doi:10.1148/rg.23si035504 - Pubmed
-
4. Napolitano G, Pressacco J, Paquet E. Imaging features of constrictive pericarditis: beyond pericardial thickening. (2009) Canadian Association of Radiologists journal = Journal l'Association canadienne des radiologistes. 60 (1): 40-6. doi:10.1016/j.carj.2009.02.034 - Pubmed
-
5. Peebles CR, Shambrook JS, Harden SP. Pericardial disease--anatomy and function. (2011) The British journal of radiology. 84 Spec No 3: S324-37. doi:10.1259/bjr/16168253 - Pubmed
Promoted articles (advertising)