Cardiac impairment detected by echocardiography in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

The authors subjected to complete echocardiographic examination 40 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in order to assess pathological changes of the heart (changes of the structure and function of valves, myocardial function of the left ventricle and the pericardium) and compare their incidence with clinical characteristics of the patients (age, duration, stage, form and activity of the disease) as well as with the presence of ECG changes. Based on the results and their statistical analysis they revealed that structural changes of the aorta and its valves associated with dilatation of the root of the aorta, its mild insufficiency and the possible finding of a typical bump on its posterior wall is found in half the patients with AS, being more frequent when the disease develops early, when it persists for a long time or is in an advanced stage. A similar relationship is found also in the presence of mild diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle. The authors did not observe a more frequent incidence of other pathological changes of the heart in patients with AS. None of the detected changes were clinically severe and did not call for aimed treatment or surgery. In the conclusion the authors compare the assessed facts with data in the literature and confront data in the literature.