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Background: The aim of this study is to investigate echocardiographic features of patients with cardiac involvement and evaluate the value of echocardiography in Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods:All patients with TA admitted from January 2015 to December 2021 were classified into patients with cardiac involvement (group 1, n=68) and patients without cardiac involvement (group 2, n=59). This retrospective study compared the clinical manifestations and echocardiographic parameters between the two groups and further explored the relationship between pulmonary hypertension (PH) and echocardiographic parameters. Clinical, imaging and laboratory results of the TA patients were obtained from hospital files. Results: In our study, 68 patients (53.54%) had cardiac involvement. Valvular abnormalities were found in 55 (80.88%) patients in group 1, coronary artery abnormalities in 10 (14.71%), myocardial abnormalities in 18 (26.47%) and PH in 11 patients (16.18%), respectively. Compared to group 2, both TA patients in group 1 associated with and without PH presented with the significantly differences of echocardiographic parameters regarding left atrial diameter (LAD), interventricular septum thickness (IVST), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular (LV) mass, LV mass/body surface area (BSA), main pulmonary artery diameter (MPAD) (P<0.05). Compared the echocardiographic parameters between the patients with and without PH in group 1, the differences were of no statistical significance (P>0.05). Conclusions: Cardiac involvement is not infrequent in TA patients and it should be carefully evaluated. Echocardiography plays a vital role in the assessment of cardiac involvement in TA which is helpful for diagnosis and management of TA.

The main objectives of the current study are to investigate valvular abnormality of Behçet’s disease (BD) patients with valvular involvement and find out the risk factors of valvular involvement in BD. We retrospectively assessed the clinical and echocardiographic data in the medical records of 121 patients with BD admitted to Beijing Anzhen Hospital from January 2015 to January 2022. We evaluated the valvular structure and function mainly by echocardiography. A total of 77 BD patients (77/121, 63.64%) had cardiac valvular involvement. Valvular lesions occurred more frequently in males (p = 0.022). Aortic regurgitation (AR) (62/77, 80.52%) was the most common finding and severe AR occupied 80.65% (50/62). The most common manifestations of BD patients with severe AR was aortic valve prolapse (25/50, 50%), followed by echo-free spaces within the aortic annulus (11/50, 22%), vegetation-like lesions (10/50, 20%), and aortic root aneurysm (10/50, 20%). The incidence of paravalvular leaks (PVL) in BD patients was 14.29% (7/49). The maximal diameter of the sinus of Valsalva and proximal ascending aorta, and total cholesterol (TCHO) were the independent risk factors of moderate-severe aortic valvular regurgitation (p < 0.01). Left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were significantly associated with moderate-severe mitral valvular regurgitation (p < 0.01). The most common valvular abnormality in BD is AR. Echocardiography has great value in the comprehensive evaluation and accurate diagnosis of valvular involvement in BD patients.

The aim of this study is to investigate echocardiographic features of patients with cardiac involvement and evaluate the value of echocardiography in Takayasu arteritis (TA). This retrospective study compared the clinical manifestations and echocardiographic parameters of 127 TA patients with and without cardiac involvement and further explored the relationship between pulmonary hypertension (PH) and echocardiographic parameters. Clinical, imaging and laboratory results of the TA patients were obtained from hospital files. In our study, 68 patients (53.54%) had cardiac involvement. Valvular abnormalities were found in 55 (80.88%) patients in the heart involvement group, coronary artery abnormalities in 10 (14.71%), myocardial abnormalities in 18 (26.47%) and heart failure in 10 patients (14.71%), respectively. Among TA patients with cardiac involvement, PH was detected in 11 patients (16.18%) with echocardiographic assessment. Compared to the control group, both the TA patients with cardiac involvement associated with and without PH presented with the significantly differences of echocardiographic parameters regarding LAD, IVST, LVPWT, LVEDD, LVESD, LVEF, LV mass, LV mass/BSA, MPAD and E peak (P < 0.05). Compared the echocardiographic parameters between the patients with and without PH of TA patients with cardiac involvement, the differences were of no statistical significance (P > 0.05). Cardiac involvement is not infrequent in TA patients and it should be carefully evaluated. Echocardiography plays a vital role in the assessment of cardiac involvement in TA which is helpful for diagnosis and management of TA.