Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T07:17:41.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Postpericardiotomy syndrome: no evidence for a viral etiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2011

Steven A. Webber*
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nigel J. Wilson
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Anne K. Junker
Affiliation:
Infectious and Immunological Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Sean K. Byrne
Affiliation:
BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Angela Perry
Affiliation:
BC Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Eva E. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia and BC Children‘s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Laura Book
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia and BC Children‘s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Marion Tipple
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Michael W H Patterson
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
George G.S. Sandor
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada
*
Correspondence to: Dr S Webber, Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 3705 5th Avenue at DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Tel: (412) 692-5541; Fax: (412) 692 6991; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Background: Postpericardiotomy syndrome has been considered a disorder induced by viral infection. This conclusion is based on serologic criterions, but these may be unreliable following either cardiopulmonary bypass or transfusion therapy. Previous studies have not verified the proposed etiology either by isolation of viruses, or by detection of their genome. We sought, therefore, to clarify the role, if any, of viruses in this syndrome. Methods and Results: We studied prospectively 149 children aged from 6 months to 16 years who were undergoing open heart surgery. Blood samples were collected from all prior to operation, and again 7 to 10 days post-operatively, and 47 were sampled at the time of development of symptoms of pericardial involvement. Serums were analyzed for the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and Epstein-Barr virus. The polymerase chain reaction was used for amplification when assessing the genome of the enteroviruses. Cultures for viruses were established on samples of stool, urine, and throat swabs collected 7 days post-operatively, and at the time of postpericardial symptoms. Pericardial fluid obtained from 5 patients with the syndrome was cultured for viruses, and tested for enterovirus genome. On the basis of clinical and echocardiographic findings, 34 children were determined to have definite evidence of the syndrome, 13 were considered to have possible evidence, and the results from these patients were compared to those from patients with no pericardial symptoms, the latter being matched for age and transfusion status. We isolated viruses from one or more sites in five patients with definite evidence (16%), from one (9%) of those with possible evidence, and from seven (19%) of the controls. All serums and pericardial samples were negative for enterovirus genome. IgM antibodies were found in only 5 patients, three with symptoms of pericardial involvement and two without. Rates of seroconversion to IgG for the viruses were lower in the patients with symptoms of pericardial involvement compared to controls, but were strongly influenced by transfusion status. Conclusion: Our study has provided no evidence to support a viral etiology for the postpericardiotomy syndrome.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Drusin, LM, Engle, MA, Hagstrom, JWC, Schwartz, MS. The postpericardiotomy syndrome: A six-year epidemiologic study. N Engl J Med 1965; 272:597602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Engle, MA, Zabriskie, JB, Senterfit, LB, Tay, DJ, Ebert, PA. Immunologic and virologic studies in the postpericardiotomy syndrome. J Pediatr 1975;87:11031108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Janton, OH, Glover, RP, O'Neill, TJE, Gregory, JE, Froto, GF. Results of the surgical treatment for mitral stenosis: Analysis of one hundred consecutive cases. Circulation 1952;6:321333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Elster, SK, Wood, HF, Seely, RD. Clinical and laboratory manifestations of the postcommissurotomy syndrome. Am J Med 1954; 17:826838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Van der Geld, H. Anti-heart antibodies in the postpericardiotomy and the postmyocardial-infarction syndromes. Lancet 1964;ii:617621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.De Scheerder, I, Wulfrank, D, Van Renterghem, L, Sabbe, L, Robbrecht, D, Clement, D, Derom, F, Plum, J, Verdonk, G. Association of anti-heart antibodies and circulating immune complexes in the post-pericardiotomy syndrome. Clin Exp Immunol 1983;57:423–28.Google Scholar
7.Maisch, B, Berg, PA, Kochsiek, K. Clinical significance of immunopathological findings in patients with post-pericardiotomy syndrome: 1. Relevance of antibody pattern. Clin Exp Immunol 1979; 38:189197.Google ScholarPubMed
8.Engle, MA, McCabe, JC, Ebert, PA, Zabriskie, J. The postpericardiotomy syndrome and antiheart antibodies. Circulation 1974; 49: 401406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Engle, MA, Zabriskie, JB, Senterfit, LB. Heart-reactive antibody, viral illness, and the postpericardiotomy syndrome. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc 1976;87:147160.Google ScholarPubMed
10.Engle, MA, Zabriskie, JB, Senterfit, LB, Gay, WA Jr, O'Loughlin, JE Jr, Ehlers, KH. Viral illness and the postpericardiotomy syndrome: A prospective study in children. Circulation 1980;62:11511158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Engle, MA, Gay, WA Jr, McCabe, J, Longo, E, Johnson, D, Senterfit, LB, Zabriskie, JB. Postpericardiotomy syndrome in adults: Incidence, autoimmunity and virology. Circulation 1981; 64 (suppl II): 1158–60.Google ScholarPubMed
12.Lerner, AM, Wilson, FM, Reyes, MREnteroviruses and the heart (with special emphasis on the probable role of coxsackieviruses, Group B, Types 1-5). Modern Concepts of Cardiovascular Disease 1975; 44:1115.Google Scholar
13.Kaneko, S, Feinstone, SM, Miller, RH. Rapid and sensitive method for the detection of serum Hepatitis B virus DNA using the polymerase chain reaction technique. J Clin Microbiol 1989; 27: 19301933.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Rotbart, HA, Enzymatic, RNAamplification of the Enteroviruses. J Clin Microbiol 1990; 28:438442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Kwok, S, Higuchi, R. Avoiding false positives with PCR. Nature 1989;339:237238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Caul, EO, Clarke, SKR, Mott, MG, Perham, TGM, Wilson, RSE. Cytomegalovirus infections after open heart surgery: A prospective study. Lancet 1971;I: 777780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Kahn, DR, Ertel, PY, Murphy, WH, Kirsh, MM, Vathayanon, S, Stern, AM, Sloan, H. Pathogenesis of the postcardiotomy syndrome. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1967; 54: 682687.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Prather, SL, Dagan, R, Jenista, JA, Menegus, MA. The isolation of enteroviruses from blood: A comparison of four processing methods. J Med Virol 1984; 14: 221227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Thoren, A, Robinson, AJ, Maguire, T, Jenkins, R. Two step PCR in the retrospective diagnosis of enteroviral viraemia. Scand J Infect Dis 1992; 24: 137141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Muir, P, Nicholson, F, Jhetam, M, Neogi, S, Banatvala, JE. Rapid diagnosis of enterovirus infection by magnetic bead extraction and polymerase chain reaction detection of enterovirus RNA in clinical specimens. J Clin Microbiol 1993; 31:3138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Olive, DM, Al-Mufti, S, Al-Mulla, W, Khan, MA, Pasca, A, Stanway, G, Al-Nakib, WDetection and differentiation of picornaviruses in clinical samples following genomic amplification. J Gen Virol 1990; 71: 21412147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed