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Cardiac involvement in patients of systemic sclerosis

Qazi Masood Ahmad1, Iffat Hassan Shah, Qazi Nauman

  • 1Department of Dermatology, STD and Leprosy and Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir), India.

Indian Journal of Dermatology
|November 3, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis patients was rare, with valvular issues being a notable finding. Further evaluation for arrhythmias using a 24-hour Holter monitor was not performed.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Rheumatology
  • Autoimmune Diseases

Background:

  • Systemic sclerosis is a multi-systemic autoimmune disorder.
  • Cardiac involvement is not a diagnostic criterion but can manifest clinically or via investigations.
  • Understanding cardiac involvement aids comprehensive patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the profile of cardiac involvement in patients diagnosed with systemic sclerosis.
  • To identify specific cardiac manifestations in this patient cohort.

Main Methods:

  • A study included 47 patients with systemic sclerosis.
  • Methods involved comprehensive history, physical examination, ECG, echocardiography, and chest X-ray.
  • Furst's organ indices scoring system was used to assess cardiac involvement.

Main Results:

  • Arrhythmias were observed in 5 patients.
  • Echocardiography revealed valvular involvement in 5 patients.
  • Left ventricular hypertrophy was noted in 2 patients.

Conclusions:

  • Cardiac involvement was infrequent in this systemic sclerosis cohort.
  • Valvular involvement emerged as a prominent feature, contrasting with some previous studies.
  • Limitations included the absence of 24-hour Holter monitoring for arrhythmia evaluation.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cutaneous metastasescardiac involvementmelanomasystemic sclerosisventricular hypertrophy

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