[The effect of Ridaura on cardiac function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (based on echocardiographic data)].

The method of echocardiography was used to study the effect of ridaura on the functional state of the heart in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) depending on the duration of therapy and its efficacy. A total of 28 patients with RA were examined in the dynamics of therapy. The favourable effect of ridaura on the size of the left ventricle of the heart and its contractile function with the general positive effect of therapy was revealed. A decrease in the size of the left ventricle began 6 months after treatment with ridaura and continued up to the end of the first year, the contractile function considerably rose after two years of treatment. In 1/3 of the patients side effects developed; they manifested themselves in deterioration of the indices of hemodynamics. The unfavourable effect of ridaurotherapy on the myocardium had a latent course and was reversible.