**10. Management**

As earlier described, perimyocarditis is a combination of both pericardial inflammation and myocardial damage. Treatment should therefore target both pathologies. Because myocarditis is a more serious diagnosis owing to the potential of serious ventricular arrhythmias and heart failure, the diagnosis of myocarditis is deemed more important. Acute pericarditis usually runs a smooth and benign course after empiric treatment with NSAID and routine hospitalization in most cases is not necessary. Perimyocarditis on the other hand has higher incidence of complications and is one of the indications for hospitalization. Checking the levels of cardiac biomarkers and echocardiography is therefore mandatory in any case of acute pericarditis. Imazio et. al. identified certain poor prognostic predictors that are more frequently associated with an increased risk of short term complications and therefore an indication for hospitalization [26]. Table 3 lists various indications for hospitalization of patients presenting with acute pericarditis
