ABSTRACT
The goal of this work is to precise the respective aetiologic prevalence and the bases of diagnosis of pericarditis in Ivory Coast. The epidemiologic study has been done about 197 cases diagnosed between march 1972 and april 1978. These results are comparable to those collected previously in West Africa: the pericarditis is present in 1% of the patients admitted in the hospital and in 5.6% of the cardiovascular diseases of the unit of internal medicine in the Treichville Hospital (Abidjan). The semeiologic and evolutive study has been done with the 100 best documented records, with 90 acute and sub-acute pericarditis and 10 chronic pericarditis. The usual bases of diagnosis are used; the frequency of chest pain and signs of adiastole is emphasized. The aetiologic repartition is as follows: tuberculous 33%, septic 18%, benign acute pericarditis 15%, rheumatic 5%, uremic 13%, malignant 3%, undetermined 12%. These numbers are comparable to other author's numbers in West Africa. They confirm the important number of tuberculous and septic infections. These infections processus explain probably the frequency of constrictive pericarditis. However, the aetiology of constrictive pericarditis is often difficult to state precisely.U
