Echocardiography in the Assessment of Patients with Rheumatologic Diseases.
Cardiovascular disease is an important extra-articular manifestation of rheumatologic diseases leading to considerable mortality and morbidity. Echocardiography emerges as a useful non-invasive technique for the screening and evaluation of cardiac involvement in these patients. With the technological advancement in echocardiographic techniques, we have gained a greater appreciation of the prevalence and nature of the cardiac involvement in these patients, as detection of subclinical disease is increasingly feasible. This review discusses cardiac involvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome, systemic sclerosis and ankylosing spondylitis, and the role of different echocardiographic modalities in their evaluation.
Department of Clinical Sciences (Cardiology), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Maha A
MA
Al-Mohaissen
Department of Medicine (Cardiology), University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada. kchan@ottawaheart.ca.|University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin Street, Room H3412, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4W7, Canada. kchan@ottawaheart.ca.
Kwan-Leung
KL
Chan
D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left
Cardiac disease; Connective tissue disease; Echocardiography; Ischaemia; Left ventricular function; Rheumatologic diseases