Acute onset of constrictive pericarditis due to acute myelomonocytic leukemia: A case and literature review

Intern Med. 2024 Apr 16. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.3505-24. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

We herein present a fatal case of constrictive pericarditis (CP) due to acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML) in a patient who initially complained of an acute onset of chest pain two days after COVID-19 vaccination. An autopsy revealed pericardial infiltration of leukemic cells. CP is rarely associated with leukemia and only 14 cases have been reported in the literature. The etiology of CP in previous reports included leukemic infiltration, graft-versus-host disease, drug-induced, post-radiation, autoimmune, and otherwise unidentified. This case indicates that leukemic infiltration can cause CP and that clinicians should include leukemia in the differential diagnosis of CP.

Keywords: AML with NUP98 translocation; AMML; Acute pericarditis; Constrictive pericarditis.