A young man with intractable ascites and effort dyspnoea without echocardiographic signs of pericardial thickening: the importance of clinical investigation, CT scan and MRI in the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis.

A 35-year-old male patient suffering from dyspnoea on effort for 8 months, with abdominal and jugular venous distension, was previously studied in another hospital and discharged with a diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy. Physical examination revealed a blood pressure of 110/60 mm Hg and absence of pericardial knock and also of paradoxical pulse. Chest X-ray showed no cardio-pulmonary alterations.