[Diagnostic-therapeutic problems on heart involvement in chronic polyarthritis]

200 in-patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were examined with regard to the diagnostic criteria for early recognition of rheumatoid heart involvement. 75 patients showed some evidence (37.5%). The criteria are: subjectively, reduced general state, feeling of oppression, disproportional tachycardia and dyspnea: objectively, changes in the electrocardiogram (tachycardia, T-inversions sometimes resembling to infarct pictures, disturbances of repolarization, extrasystoles and AV blocks). The severity of the change may alter rapidly. Severe myocarditides may manifest as heart failure and dilatation of rapid onset. For prognostic and therapeutic reasons the recognition of a heart involvement, despite these often minimal appearances, is important. It is remarkable that there was no correlation between the activity of rheumatoid process, the titre of rheumatoid factor, and the degree of heart involvement. Age and age of onset, duration of disease and sex also showed no correlation with rheumatoid heart involvement.