Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis in real-world clinical practice

Introduction . Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis (IRP) is a rare inflammatory disease that manifests with acute pericarditis, followed by an asymptomatic period of 4-6 weeks or more, after which the disease relapses. The etiology of pericarditis cannot be determined in the vast majority of cases. Unfortunately, in real-world practice, physicians have no apprehensive attitude to IRP and patients with acute pericarditis are not followed up. Consequently, IRP is often diagnosed late, as demonstrated by the presented case. Brief description . We describe a case of a 49-year-old female patient with recurrent pericarditis of unknown etiology, associated with arthralgia and skin manifestations. The first episode was characterized by pericardial effusion, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, and resistance to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Remission was achieved with colchicine therapy, but it relapsed after 5 months and was treated with glucocorticoids. Conclusion . This case of IRP shows the complexities of differential diagnosis and demonstrates the importance of timely treatment.