Sclerodermic Cardiomyopathy-A State-of-the-Art Review

Overview

Journal Diagnostics (Basel)

Specialty Radiology

Date 2022 Mar 25

PMID 35328222

Authors

Adrian Giuca

Tea Gegenava

Carmen Marina Mihai

Ciprian Jurcut

Adrian Saftoiu

Diana Monica Grnita

Bogdan Alexandru Popescu

Nina Ajmone Marsan

Ruxandra Jurcut

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disorder with unknown triggering factors, and complex pathophysiologic links which lead to fibrosis of skin and internal organs, including the heart, lungs, and gut. However, more than 100 years after the first description of cardiac disease in SSc, sclerodermic cardiomyopathy (SScCmp) is an underrecognized, occult disease with important adverse long-term prognosis. Laboratory tests, electrocardiography (ECG) and cardiovascular multimodality imaging techniques (transthoracic 2D and 3D echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), and novel imaging techniques, including myocardial deformation analysis) provide new insights into the cardiac abnormalities in patients with SSc. This state-of-the-art review aims to stratify all the cardiac investigations needed to diagnose and follow-up the SScCmp, and discusses the epidemiology, risk factors and pathophysiology of this important cause of morbidity of the SSc patient.

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