[Cardiovascular pathology in dermatomyositis]

Among 110 patients with dermatomyositis cardiovascular pathology was found in 77, and only in 37 of them it was attributable to the underlying pathology. In all of these patients myocardial lesions were found, that manifested themselves most frequently by non-specific ECG changes. Cardiac insufficiency and arrhythmias were revealed less frequently, mainly during exacerbations of the pathological process. Only in one patient endocarditis was diagnosed, and in two others elements of chronic cor pulmonale due to pneumonitis. In 18 patients signs of moderate myocardial dystrophy developed after a long-term therapy with corticosteroid hormones. A study of the central haemodynamics in 20 patients with dermatomyositis revealed a tendency towards a hyperkinetic state of the circulation in those patients who had the most sereve muscle syndrome. Angioscopy of the bulbar conjunctiva revealed the changes that persisted even during the remission period, achieved by means of active steroid therapy.