Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus can manifest itself in almost every organ of the body. The aim of this study was to clinically evaluate the cardiovascular systems efficiency in unselected SLE patients. We performed standard ECG, 24-hour ECG Holter monitoring and Doppler echocardiography in all patients. Amongst the 22 patients we detected cardiovascular disorders in 11. Only one patient complained of dyspnea and chest pains. Doppler echocardiography revealed slight disturbances without hemodynamic implications and structural valvular disorders in 8 of the patients. 24 hour Holter ECG monitoring revealed supraventricular arrhythmias in 3/11 patients. The ECG revealed ischemia in 4/11 patients and myocardial infarction in 2 subjects (past). Four patients presented with antiphospholipid antibodies. All patients presented with different cardiovascular changes. Despite the lack of symptoms there exist features characteristic of cardiovascular diseases. Doppler echocardiography should be repeated for early diagnosis. Antiphospholipid antibodies seem to be one of the risk factors of developing cardiac symptoms in SLE patients.

Keywords: SLE, coronary vasculitis, myocarditis, Endocarditis, Pericarditis