The imaging appearances of various pericardial disorders

Insights into Imaging

Table 1 The role of imaging modalities in various pericardial disorders

		Roentgenogram	CT	MRI
Absence of the pericardium	Interposed lung tissue	++	+++	+++
	Diminished right cardiac border	++	*	*
	Levorotation of heart	+	+++	+++
	Pericardial discontinuity	–	++	+++
Pneumopericardium	Imaging-based diagnosis	+	+++	**
Pneumopericardium	Revealing the underlying cause	–	+++	**
Pericardial fluid collection	Imaging-based diagnosis	+	+++	+++
	Discrimination of fluid content	–	++	+++
	Revealing the underlying cause	+	++	++
	Revealing the pericardial thickening	–	++	+++
Erdheim-Chester disease	Discrimination of involvement	–	++	+++
Pericardial calcification	Revealing the burden of involvement	+	+++	++
Pericardial calcification	Revealing the compressive effect to heart chambers	+	+++	+++
Pericardial masses	Discrimination of cystic/solid/fat/calcific content	–	++	+++
Hydatid disease	Imaging-based diagnosis	–	++	+++
	Revealing the association between cardiac chambers	–	++	+++
	Revealing the presence of daughter cysts/floated membrane	–	++	+++
Medical devices	Drainage catheters	++	+++	+++
	Temporary epicardial pacing	++	+++	***
	Pericardial patch	–	++^a	++^a
Fat necrosis	Imaging-based diagnosis	–	++^b	+++^c
Foreign body	Imaging-based diagnosis	+	+++	+^a