title: Myocardial involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis--pulsed Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function.
abstract: Myocardial involvement (MI) in connective tissue diseases is commonly found at autopsy but seldom recognized clinically. To assess the subclinical MI, the left ventricular (LV) diastolic function was studied in 16 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 15 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) by means of pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Patients with abnormal LV systolic function were not included. A control group (C) included 16 sex and age-matched healthy subjects. The parameters analyzed were: peak early diastolic flow velocity (E), peak late diastolic flow velocity (A), E/A ratio, isovolumic relaxation time (IRT). LV diastolic function was found impaired in SLE and SSc patients even when systolic function was normal as could be demonstrated by pulsed Doppler echocardiography.
authors.affiliation: N. Gh. Lupu Institute of Internal Medicine, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stănescu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dan
mesh_terms: D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003971:Diastole; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left