Pericarditis — DVA SoP factors

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 90 of 2023

At least one of the following factors must as a minimum exist before it can be said that a reasonable hypothesis has been raised connecting pericarditis or death from pericarditis with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

1. (1)
   having open heart surgery within the 20 years before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
2. (2)
   having a pacemaker, or defibrillator lead insertion within the 20 years before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
3. (3)
   having a cardiac ablation procedure to treat cardiac dysrhythmia within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
4. (4)
   having sclerosants such as talc, and tetracyclines directly introduced into the pericardial sac before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
5. (5)
   having penetrating or blunt trauma to the heart within the 20 years before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
6. (6)
   having electrical injury affecting the heart within the 20 years before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
7. (7)
   having a peptic ulcer that erodes the pericardium at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
8. (8)
   undergoing a course of therapeutic radiation for cancer, where the heart was in the field of radiation, within the 20 years before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
9. (9)
   having a pericardial infection at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
10. (10)
    having a systemic viral infection within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
11. (11)
    having tuberculosis before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
12. (12)
    having an infection of the structures contiguous with the pericardium at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;

    Note: Infections reported to spread to the pericardium from anatomical sites contiguous with the pericardium include empyema, and amoebic liver abscess.

13. (13)
    having myocarditis at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
14. (14)
    having acute rheumatic fever at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
15. (15)
    having one of the following vasculitides: (a) Behcet's disease; (b) eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg Straus syndrome); (c) giant cell (temporal) arteritis; (d) granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis); (e) microscopic polyangiitis; (f) polyarteritis nodosa; or (g) Takayasu's arteritis; at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
16. (16)
    having one of the following systemic inflammatory diseases: (a) Addison disease with type 2 autoimmune polyglandular syndrome; (b) ankylosing spondylitis and seronegative spondyloarthropathies; (c) dermatomyositis; (d) IgG4-related disease; (e) inflammatory bowel disease; (f) mixed connective tissue disease; (g) polymyositis; (h) rheumatoid arthritis; (i) scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis); (j) Sjögren's syndrome; or (k) systemic lupus erythematosus; at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
17. (17)
    having a heart transplant, lung transplant, kidney transplant or haematopoietic cell transplant before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
18. (18)
    having a myocardial infarction within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
19. (19)
    having a dissection of the ascending aorta at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
20. (20)
    having a pulmonary infarction at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
21. (21)
    having pancreatitis at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
22. (22)
    having a benign or malignant cancer involving the pericardium at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
23. (23)
    having a malignant neoplasm with a paraneoplastic pericarditis at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
24. (24)
    having sarcoidosis or amyloidosis at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
25. (25)
    having acute or chronic renal failure at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;

    Note: Pericarditis can occur in patients who are undergoing haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Chronic renal failure is equivalent to a stage 5 chronic kidney disease with a glomerular filtration rate <15 ml/min/1.73 m2.

26. (26)
    having diabetic ketoacidosis at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
27. (27)
    taking a drug from the specified list at the time of the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;

    Note: drug from the specified list is defined in the Schedule1- Dictionary.

28. (28)
    taking a drug which is associated in the individual with the development of pericarditis during drug therapy; and either: (a) the improvement of pericarditis within one month of discontinuing or tapering drug therapy; or (b) the redevelopment of pericarditis on rechallenge with the same drug; and where taking the drug continued for at least the 7 days before the clinical onset of pericarditis;
29. (29)
    having a COVID-19 vaccine within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
30. (30)
    having smallpox vaccine within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
31. (31)
    having asbestosis or asbestos related pleural plaques before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis;
32. (32)
    inhaling respirable asbestos fibres in an enclosed space at the time material containing asbestos was being applied, removed, cut, drilled, dislodged or disturbed: (a) for a cumulative period of at least 1,000 hours before the clinical onset of pericarditis; and (b) where the first inhalation of asbestos fibres commenced at least 5 years before the clinical onset of pericarditis;

    Note: Disturbance of debris or dust contaminated with asbestos fibres already present in an enclosed space may result in exposure to respirable asbestos fibres.

33. (33)
    inhaling respirable asbestos fibres in an open environment at the time material containing asbestos was being applied, removed, cut, drilled, dislodged or disturbed: (a) for a cumulative period of at least 3,000 hours before the clinical onset of pericarditis; and (b) where the first inhalation of asbestos fibres commenced at least 5 years before the clinical onset of pericarditis;

    Note: Disturbance of debris or dust contaminated with asbestos fibres already present in an open environment may result in exposure to respirable asbestos fibres.

34. (34)
    inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for pericarditis before the clinical worsening of pericarditis;