[Calcified constrictive pericarditis in an adolescent].

The authors report the case of an adolescent with no previous medical history with calcific pericarditis which rapidly progressed to constriction. The disease was diagnosed several months after an episode of chest pain very suggestive of acute viral pericarditis. Surgery was necessary and resulted in a complete cure of the constrictive pericarditis. The aetiologies of constrictive pericarditis are reviewed; previously, tuberculosis used to be the most common cause but it is being progressively supplanted by other pathologies.