Left ventricular diastolic function in systemic sclerosis: assessment by radionuclide angiography

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Rheumatology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Systemic sclerosis is a connective tissue disease with potential multi-organ involvement.
• Left ventricular dysfunction can occur in systemic sclerosis, impacting patient prognosis.
• Assessing diastolic function is crucial for understanding cardiac health in these patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function in women with systemic sclerosis.
• To investigate the presence and extent of LV diastolic asynchrony in systemic sclerosis.
• To compare cardiac function parameters between systemic sclerosis patients and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• Radionuclide angiography with high temporal resolution (20 msec/frame) was used.
• Left ventricular volume curves were analyzed to compute systolic and diastolic indices.
• Diastolic asynchrony was quantified by the coefficient of variation of regional time-to-peak filling rates.

Main Results:

• Patients with systemic sclerosis showed a prolonged isovolumic relaxation period compared to controls (127 +/- 39 msec vs. 87 +/- 44 msec).
• A subnormal peak filling rate was observed in 38% of systemic sclerosis patients.
• Increased left ventricular diastolic asynchrony was evident in the systemic sclerosis group (27.9% +/- 11.5% vs. 14.5% +/- 8.6%).

Conclusions:

• Patients with systemic sclerosis demonstrate impaired left ventricular relaxation.
• Systemic sclerosis is associated with significantly increased left ventricular diastolic asynchrony.
• These findings suggest subclinical cardiac diastolic dysfunction is common in systemic sclerosis.