a recent chest x ray showed some slight thickening at the bottom of my heart. i am sceduled to have a 2d echo with doppler soon. having some symptoms like shortness of breath, mild chest pain and every so often my heart will beat really hard. what do you think is the problem and treatment
Hi There I understand your concern and would like to tell you that thickened lower heart border on a chest X-ray is suggestive of constrictive pericarditis. The symptoms which you are experiencing also happens in it. The good way of confirmation of diagnosis of Constrictive Pericarditis is an ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY or a CT chest. If the diagnosis of CP is confirmed then it could be managed with medicines like NSAIDs, Colchicine, cox 2 inhibitors and steroids or combination of them. Treatment duration varies from patient to patient. Its is curable. I wish you good health