15 patients with constrictive pericarditis who underwent interphrenic pericardiectomy from January, 1981 to April, 1983 and 11 patients who underwent radical pericardiectomy from May, 1983 to September, 1984 were compared to the clinical improvement and the results of pre- and postoperative cardiac catheterization. In the group of partial pericardiectomy the pericardium was removed anteriorly from the left phrenic nerve to the right phrenic nerve and in the group of radical pericardiectomy the pericardium was removed from almost entire surface of the heart including diaphragmatic surface and posterior wall of the left ventricle. The following results were obtained. 1. Both group of the patients showed marked symptomatic improvement early after operation. 2. The central venous pressure was decreased significantly after operation in both group of the patients. 3. The right atrial mean pressure and pulmonary arterial mean pressure decreased significantly after operation in both group of the patients and there was no significant difference in the amplitude of decrease between the two groups. 4. The right ventricular end-diastolic pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure were decreased postoperatively in both group of the patients and the patients of the radical pericardiectomy showed more decrease than the patients of interphrenic pericardiectomy, and in the group of radical pericardiectomy the right and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure were normalized postoperatively but in the group of partial pericardiectomy they showed abnormally high pressure persistently. 5. The ejection fraction showed normal level pre- and postoperatively in both group of the patients.