Abstract

Differentiating between constrictive pericarditis (CP) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a clinical challenge in cardiology. This study looked at the diagnostic utility of plasma pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT proBNP) and C-reactive protein levels in the differential diagnosis of CP and RCM. This review was reported by the PRISMA statement. The electronic databases Embase, Scopus, and PubMed were used for literature searches. The period of the search was 2007-2023. The search was restricted to English-language publications. The reference lists of all included studies and relevant reviews were manually reviewed to locate further research. Five papers were considered in this investigation, including three case-control studies and two cohort studies. The percentage of males was greater in all of the included studies, except two studies. The population’s mean age of the included studies ranged from 25.7 to 61.8 years. Different methods for RCM diagnosis were undertaken in the included studies: echocardiography, endomyocardial biopsy, cardiac catheterization, clinical features, and computed tomography. Patients with CP had considerably lower levels of B natriuretic peptide and NT-proBNP than those with RCM.

Key words: Restrictive cardiomyopathy, constrictive pericarditis, diagnosis, natriuretic peptide, systemic review