Search results for " Cardiac abnormalities"

Cardiac involvement in rheumatoid arthritis: Evidence of silent heart disease

1995

Background : Rlieumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease involving many organ systems and is frequently accompanied by cardiac alterations. However, there is considerable disagreement concerning the cardiac abnormalities found in patients with RA. The purpose of our investigation was to determine, by a non-invasive method such as echocardiography, the nature and extent of cardiac involvement in RA patients with no symptoms of cardiac disease, in comparison with a control sample. Methods : We selected 35 patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis (five men, 30 women), aged 51 ± 11 years. No patient had either symptoms of cardiac disease or extra cardiac complaint. As a control group we s…