| Summary: | The history of pericarditis involves the recognition of signs and symptoms detected using the physical examination skills such as inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. Pericarditis is the term used to describe the spectrum of diseases that includes acute, subacute, and chronic forms. From 1761 to 1852, physicians were required to use their sense of sight, identifying abnormalities recognized as the signs of medical eponyms attributed to honor their findings. In this first part of a three-part series on pericarditis, the signs detected through inspection are described. Through inspection, physicians identified the bulging or retraction of the precordium and epigastrium in patients with pericardial effusion or adherent pericarditis. Many of these signs were detected, described, and reported in patients with advanced or chronic adherent pericarditis. It is unknown how useful these signs are in modern-day clinical practice.
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