[Pulmonary hypertension right and left cardiac cavities in patients with systemic scleroderma]

Lung lesion is a most common organ changes in systemic scleroderma (SSD) detectable in approximately 70% of the patients at autopsy. Echocardiography is now one of the main non-invasive diagnostic methods for pulmonary hypertension (PH), in patients with scleroderma in particular. The study was undertaken to examine the incidence of PH and the specific features of its development in patients with SSD. Thirty-one patients with SSD (30 females and 1 males) treated at the rheumatological unit of the regional clinical hospital in 2000 to 2002 were examined. The patients' age ranged from 33 to 75 years (mean 47.7 +/- 1.7 years). Pulmonary systolic blood pressure (PSBP) (higher than 30 mm Hg) was recorded in 51.6% of the patients. Hypertrophy of the right ventricle (RV) (more than 0.5-cm increases in the thickness of its anterior wall) was found in 20 (64.5%) patients with SSD, 4 cases had hypertrophy of the RV anterior wall without resting elevated PSBP. More than 2.5-cm RV dilation was observed in 6 (19.4%) patients. This study has provided evidence for that echocardiography is of high informative value in detecting PH and right cardiac changes in patients with systemic scleroderma, which shows this technique to be a screening in these cases.