Detection of preclinical impairment of myocardial function in rheumatoid arthritis patients with short disease duration by speckle tracking echocardiography

Left ventricular function in rheumatoid arthritis during anti-TNF-α treatment: a speckle tracking prospective echocardiographic study

“…However, GLS was lower in RA patients than what has been reported in normal subjects in previously published studies [22]. These data are in accord pime pime pime pime p pi im me e EDITRICE to those by Sitia et al [21]. A subclinical alteration in GLS than healthy subjects is a demonstrated sign of heart involvement in RA.…”

“…First, the small number of patients involved and a probably short follow-up time. However, we calculated that our study have a statistical power between 50 and 60% in detecting a 2D strain difference between paired samples of 2-3% according to its values in Sitia et al [21] and accepted formulae [23]. Second, anti-TNF-α treatment is different among cases.…”

“…In fact, myocardium perfusion by coronary arteries occurs during diastole, and diastolic dysfunction may contribute to reduce blood supply. Moreover, [20] Sitia et al recently demonstrated that both tissue Doppler imaging and 2D speckle tracking strain analysis are altered in 22 RA patients without coronary artery disease despite normal standard echocardiography, as compared with age-and gender-matched healthy controls [21]. They concluded that 2D strain is a feasible and promising tool in the follow-up of these subjects.…”

“…A subclinical alteration in GLS than healthy subjects is a demonstrated sign of heart involvement in RA. However, Sitia et al included only 10 patients out of 22 treated by anti-TNF-α drugs and did not provide any argumentation about the difference between the two groups [21]. In addition, no RA patients enrolled by Birdane et al was treated with such drugs [20].…”

Evaluation of Left Ventricular Function of Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Tissue Doppler and 2D Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

“…Demirelli et al [22] showed in their study that STE can be useful in determination of subclinical LV dysfunction in patients with Behcet's disease. In another study, Sitia et al [23] stated that non invasive evaluation of LV function by STE appears to be useful to detect subclinical cardiac involvement in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Hereby, early diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction can be provided by the identification of cardiac involvement during the course of subclinical condition.…”