Is cardiac involvement in collagen diseases important? A clinical study in 917 patients.

Cardiac involvement in collagen diseases was studied in 917 patients representing all the cases of collagen diseases diagnosed in the "N. Gh. Lupu" Institute of Internal Medicine between 1985 and 1987. The prevalence of the various cardiac disorders was studied within every disease or group of diseases diagnosed according to clinical, ECG, radiologic and when necessary echocardiographic data. Collagen heart disease was diagnosed in 38.2% of the patients. In the case of systemic lupus erythematosus, of polyarteritis nodosa and of progressive systemic sclerosis this proportion exceeds 50%. The most frequent cardiac disorders were the rhythm and conduction disturbances, detected in 112 patients (12.2%). The cardiomyopathies and myocarditis, not infrequent (7.4%) represented an element of severity influencing the evolution and prognosis of disease. Myocardial ischemia secondary to coronary vasculitis syndromes has proved to be an important pathogenic mechanism of cardiac disorders. By their frequency and severity, the cardiac involvements in collagen diseases have proved important, becoming sometimes a central diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic problem.