A 59-year-old man had a history of rheumatoid arthritis. He presented with incurable pericar dial effusion. He was repeatedly treated with pericardiocentesis with only transient attenua tion of his symptoms because the underlying pericardial constriction had been overlooked. This time the authors diagnosed effusive constrictive pericarditis due to rheumatoid arthritis using the hemodynamic findings observed before and after pericardiocentesis.
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