Role of Echocardiography in the Assessment of Cardiac Involvement in Takayasu Arteritis

Abstract

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.