The occurrence of a fibrinous pericarditis as a terminal event in chronic renal failure has been known for many years. That this pericarditis can be painful is an accepted fact.1 The purpose of this paper is to report the occurrence of pericarditis in patients with acute renal failure and to compare this with its occurrence in chronic renal failure. A second purpose is to describe the type of pain that occurs as a result of uremic pericarditis. All patients studied were seen by one or both of the authors.
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE
The hospital records of 77 patients with acute renal failure of varying cause were reviewed; 40 of these patients, or 52%, died. Of the 63 patients who did not have pericarditis, 32, or 50%, died. A pericardial friction rub was heard in 14 of the 77 patients, or 18%. Of these 14 patients, 6 survived and 8,