Post myocardial infarction pericarditis
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Differentiating Post MI Pericarditis from other Conditions
Dressler's syndrome typically occurs 2 to 10 weeks after a myocardial infarction has occurred. This differentiates Dressler's syndrome from the much more common post myocardial infarction pericarditis that occurs in 17 to 25% of cases of acute myocardial infarction between days 2 and 4 after the myocardial infarction. Dressler's syndrome also needs to be differentiated from pulmonary embolism, another identifiable cause of pleuritic (and non-pleuritic) chest pain in people who have been hospitalized and/or undergone surgical procedures within the preceding weeks.