Cardiovascular involvement in systemic autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), systemic sclerosis and systemic vasculitis, affect a large number of people in whom one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality is cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is associated with the development of accelerated atherosclerosis. It seems to occur at a younger age than in the general population, is often asymptomatic and, in addition to traditional risk factors, also involves specific risk factors as chronic inflammation, the duration and activity of the autoimmune disease, and immunosuppressive therapy. The early phases of cardiovascular involvement in patients with autoimmune diseases may be clinically silent, with only a microcirculation disorder present. There are various means of detecting morphological cardiac damage: coronary angiography remains the gold standard for diagnosing coronary stenosis, but new, non invasive and more reliable methods have been introduced into clinical practice in order to detect subclinical microcirculation abnormalities.
Sitia
Simona
S
IRCCS Orthopedic Galeazzi Institute, University of Milan, Department of Health Technologies, Cardiology Unit, Milan, Italy.
Atzeni
Fabiola
F
Sarzi-Puttini
Piercarlo
P
Di Bello
Vitantonio
V
Tomasoni
Livio
L
Delfino
Luigi
L
Antonini-Canterin
Francesco
F
Di Salvo
Giovanni
G
De Gennaro Colonna
Vito
V
La Carrubba
Salvatore
S
Carerj
Scipione
S
Turiel
Maurizio
M
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents