Abstract

MINOXIDIL is a potent vasodilator, indicated in the treatment of severe refractory hypertension.1 Observed adverse side effects include salt and water retention due to augmented reabsorption in the proximal tubule; reflex increase in sympathetic activity caused by baroreceptor stimuli, resulting in tachycardia and increased cardiac output occasionally causing angina pectoris or electrocardiographic abnormalities; hypertrichosis; and pericarditis and pericardial effusion, which may progress to cardiac tamponade. Pericarditis is not known to develop in patients taking minoxidil in the absence of other precipitating systemic illnesses such as uremia, connective tissue disorders, or acute myocardial infarction.2 We describe a patient who had pericarditis with minimal pericardial effusion (dry pericarditis) after initiation of minoxidil therapy, without known precipitating cause.