Colchicine may be added to the above as it decreases the risk of further episodes of pericarditis.Severe cases may require one or more of the following:
antibiotics to treat tuberculosis or other bacterial causes
steroids are used in acute pericarditis but are not favored because they increase the chance of recurrent pericarditis
pericardiocentesis to treat a large pericardial effusion causing tamponadeRecurrent pericarditis resistant to colchicine and anti-inflammatory steroids may benefit from a number of medicines that affect the action of interleukin 1; they cannot be taken in tablet form. These are anakinra, canakinumab and rilonacept. Rilonacept has been specifically approved as an orphan drug for use in this situation. Azathioprine has also been used.Surgical removal of the pericardium, pericardiectomy, may be used in severe cases and where the pericarditis is causing constriction, impairing cardiac function. It is less effective if the pericarditis is a consequence of trauma, in elderly patients, and if the procedure is done incompletely. It carries a risk of death between 5 and 10%. Epidemiology
About 30% of people with viral pericarditis or pericarditis of an unknown cause have one or several recurrent episodes. See also
Myopericarditis
Viral cardiomyopathy

References
External links
Pericarditis — National Library of Medicine
Pericarditis — National Heart Lung Blood Institute
History
The syndrome was first extensively noted by Robert Foster Kennedy in 1911, an Irish neurologist, who spent most of his career working in the United States of America. However, the first mention of the syndrome came from a William Gowers in 1893. Schultz–Zehden described the symptoms again in 1905. A later description was written by Wilhelm Uhthoff in 1915. References


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