Postinfarction syndrome Dressler

Dressler's syndrome, or postinfarction syndrome, most often occurs a few weeks after the myocardial infarction suffered by the patient. According to statistics, no more than six percent of patients who underwent myocardial infarction suffer from this disease in its usual form. If to consider various malosymptomnye and atypical forms of a pathology, the statistical probability of development of illness will reach 22 percent.

For Dressler's syndrome are characterized by symptoms of heart and lung disease, not associated with myocardial infarction. This pleurisy, pericarditis and pneumonitis. In addition, the inflammation can go and the synovial membrane of nearby joints. However, it is rarely possible to meet a patient who simultaneously has all three symptoms.

Most often, patients who have had myocardial infarction develop pericarditis, an inflammation of the pericardium. His symptoms are pain in the chest, increased body temperature. The doctor, after carrying out a series of special procedures and tests, can find in the patient increased ESR, leukocytosis and when listening to hear noises released by the pericardium when in contact with other tissues of the chest. As for the pains, they are usually constant, localized somewhere beyond the breastbone and can be delivered to the area between the shoulder blades, while if the patient inhales, the pain intensifies.

Dressler's syndrome, expressed by pericarditis, is characterized by the fact that the pain does not last longer than two or three days, and after this time they pass without any treatment. At this time, the inflammation in the pericardium decreases, and exudate begins to form - a fluid that fills the pericardial cavity. Thus exudate can be as hemorrhagic - caused by a bleeding, and serous - the worked out mucous glands. Determine the accumulation of this fluid in the pericardial cavity can be on several grounds: the previously audible noise of friction disappears, the heart sounds become muffled.

Another symptom that shows Dressler's syndrome is pleurisy, that is, inflammation of the pleura. It can be both dry and exudative. In the first case, the doctor can clearly determine when listening to the noise that occurs when rubbing the pleura. Exudative pleurisy is characterized by the accumulation of a large amount of fluid in the pleural cavity, because of which noises are lost, sound is blunted with percussion (tapping). Since accumulated exudate significantly reduces the maximum volume of inhaled air, the patient has difficulty breathing, dyspnea and pain during inspiration.

The third symptom that can appear when Dressler's syndrome develops is pneumonitis. It occurs much less frequently than the manifestations of pathology described above. Most of the foci of inflammation are in the lower parts of the lungs. Thus the patient experiences painful sensations at breath, in allocated sputum at a cough always there is a blood. When percussion, there is a blunting of sound, rattles are heard. In the treatment of pneumonitis, it is important that antibiotics do not give a positive effect, which is achieved only with the use of corticosteroids.