INTRODUCTION
The pericardium is a fibroelastic sac surrounding the heart and the
roots of large blood vessels. While the outer layer is a tough fibrous
pericardium, the inner serous pericardium is divided into the parietal
layer and the visceral layer. The parietal layer is lined on the inner
surface of the fibrous pericardium, and the visceral layer adheres to
the surface of the heart. The pericardial cavity is a narrow closed gap
between the visceral layer and the parietal layer, which contains a
small amount of slurry to play a slippery effect. The normal pericardium
has a protective effect on the heart, can prevent surrounding infections
from spreading to the heart, restricting the expansion of the heart and
prevent the heart from rupturing quickly when the intracardiac pressure
rises. CP is a disease that occurs between the visceral and parietal
layers of the pericardium with a thickened and fibrosed pericardium,
which may limit diastolic filling of the ventricles and cause heart
failure. Constriction is the end-stage manifestation of different kinds
of pericarditis, including tuberculosis pericarditis (TBP). From the
perspective of CP, TB is the most known major cause. For the patients
with TBP, constriction occurs in almost all untreated and many treated
ones. Therefore, it is appropriate to express TBCP from two aspects: TB
and constriction.