Constrictive cardiomyopathy

The most important differential diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy is constrictive cardiomyopathy.

MRI can differentiate between those two diagnoses:

• Pericardium is usually thickened in constrictive cardiomyopathy
• Diastolic septal bounce is seen in constrictive, but not in restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Axial and coronal black-blood images of a patient with constrictive pericarditis after CABG. Arrows point to the thickened pericardium.