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Echocardiography in the Assessment of Patients with Rheumatologic Diseases

  • Echocardiography (JM Gardin, Section Editor)
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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences (Cardiology), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Maha A. Al-Mohaissen

  2. Department of Medicine (Cardiology), University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Kwan-Leung Chan

  3. University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin Street, Room H3412, Ottawa, ON, K1Y 4W7, Canada

    Kwan-Leung Chan

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  1. Maha A. Al-Mohaissen
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  2. Kwan-Leung Chan
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Correspondence to Kwan-Leung Chan.

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Maha A. Al-Mohaissen and Kwan-Leung Chan declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Echocardiography

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Al-Mohaissen, M.A., Chan, KL. Echocardiography in the Assessment of Patients with Rheumatologic Diseases. Curr Cardiol Rep 18, 72 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-016-0757-2

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