New Developments in the Management of Recurrent Pericarditis

Abstract

Recurrent pericarditis is a common and troublesome complication that affects 15%-30% of patients with a previous episode of pericarditis. However, the pathogenesis of these recurrences is not well understood, and most cases remain idiopathic. Recent advances in medical therapy, including the use of colchicine and anti-interleukin-1 agents like anakinra and rilonacept, have suggested an autoinflammatory rather than an autoimmune mechanism for recurrences with an inflammatory phenotype. As a result, a more personalized approach to treatment is now recommended. Patients with an inflammatory phenotype (fever and elevated C-reactive protein level) should receive colchicine and anti-interleukin-1 agents as first-line therapy, whereas those without systemic inflammation should receive low to moderate doses of corticosteroids (eg, prednisone 0.2-0.5 mg/kg/d as an initial dose) and consider azathioprine and intravenous human immunoglobulins in the case of corticosteroid failure. Tapering of corticosteroids should be slow after achieving clinical remission. In this article, we review the new developments in the management of recurrent pericarditis.