Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Sep 26, 2018; 10(9): 87-96
Published online Sep 26, 2018. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v10.i9.87
Established and novel pathophysiological mechanisms of pericardial injury and constrictive pericarditis
Vinasha Ramasamy, Bongani M Mayosi, Edward D Sturrock, Mpiko Ntsekhe
Vinasha Ramasamy, Bongani M Mayosi, Edward D Sturrock, Mpiko Ntsekhe, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, South Africa
Vinasha Ramasamy, Edward D Sturrock, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, South Africa
Bongani M Mayosi, Mpiko Ntsekhe, Division of Cardiology, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, South Africa
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the manuscript.
Supported by The University of Cape Town’ s Research Committee (URC) and the South African National Research Foundation (NRF).
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mpiko Ntsekhe, FACC, MD, MPhil, PhD, Professor, Division of Cardiology, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory 7925, South Africa. mpiko.ntsekhe@uct.ac.za
Telephone: +27-21-4046183
Received: February 8, 2018
Peer-review started: February 8, 2018
First decision: April 4, 2018
Revised: April 6, 2018
Accepted: April 18, 2018
Article in press: April 22, 2018
Published online: September 26, 2018
Processing time: 234 Days and 0.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Constrictive pericarditis arises as a complication of pericarditis from a wide range of aetiologies. A comprehensive understanding of the fibrotic process eventually leading to pathological symptoms is currently lacking.Through this review of the literature, we have identified various molecular mediators which are likely to play a role in the establishment of constriction and which warrant further studies.