Diagnosis

Your doctor will do a thorough physical examination, including listening to your heart with a stethoscope. A specific sound, called a pericardial rub, can occur when your pericardium is inflamed or when fluid has collected around your heart.

Your doctor might then recommend tests, such as:

• Complete blood count. Most people with Dressler syndrome have an increased white blood cell (WBC) count.
• Blood tests to measure inflammation. A higher than normal level of C-reactive protein and an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (sed rate) can indicate inflammation that's consistent with Dressler syndrome.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). This painless, quick test records electrical signals in your heart through wires attached to your skin. Certain changes in the electrical signals can indicate pressure on your heart. But EKG readings may be abnormal after heart surgery, so your doctor will consider results of additional tests when diagnosing Dressler syndrome.
• Chest X-ray. A chest X-ray can help detect fluid around the heart or lungs. It can also help rule out other causes of your symptoms, such as pneumonia.
• Echocardiogram. Sound waves produce an image of your heart, helping your doctor to see if fluid is collecting around it.
• Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A cardiac MRI uses sound waves to create still or moving pictures of how blood flows through the heart. This test can show thickening of the pericardium.