The pathogenesis of recurrent pericarditis is still poorly understood and may be related either to viral infections or autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders.
The immune system plays a major role in the pathogenesis of the disease, modulating individual responses to different noxa and explaining the variable reported recurrence rate (ranging from 20 % to 50 % of patients) following an attack of acute or recurrent pericarditis.
Increasing interest is currently being devoted to autoinflammatory disorders, a group of conditions characterized by spontaneously relapsing and remitting bouts of systemic inflammation without apparent involvement of antigen-specific T cells or significant production of auto-antibodies.
Ongoing basic and clinical research is needed to provide further evidence for the understanding of this common and troublesome disease, and to develop targeted and more efficacious therapies.
