title: Asymptomatic cardiac involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Cardiologic and laboratory parameters were studied in 21 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with cardiopulmonary symptoms (CPS), 20 SLE patients without CPS and 45 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The most frequent cardiac abnormalities in patients with CPS included pericardial effusion (24%), ventricular enlargement (20%), mitral regurgitation (19%) and tricuspid regurgitation (14%). No structural abnormalities were observed in SLE patients without CPS. Mean calculated and derived echocardiographic values in both groups of SLE patients differed significantly from those observed in normal controls (p < 0.004). Patients with CPS had significantly lower mean values of ejection fraction (p < 0.05) and fractional shortening (p < 0.03). However, the frequencies of functional abnormalities in patients with CPS did not differ significantly from those observed in patients without CPS. There were no remarkable laboratory findings in SLE patients with CPS compared to those without. The finding that some SLE patients may have functional cardiac abnormalities in the absence of CPS is an important one. It raises the question as to whether asymptomatic cardiac involvement in SLE is a separate entity or whether it heralds symptomatic cardiopulmonary involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, U.W.I., Jamaica.
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Smikle
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: DeCeulaer
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Barrow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007563:Jamaica; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology