Clinical utility of echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging for detecting cardiac complications in Systemic Sclerosis. A case report.

Bianca Olivia Cojan Minzat, Carmen Cionca, Isabella Mihalcea, Silvia Lupu, Lucia Agoston-Coldea

Abstract


Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease that, beside skin involvement, may affect peripheral vessels and several organs, such as the lungs, kidneys or heart. Cardiac impairment usually becomes symptomatic in the late stages of the disease and is associated with poor prognosis. We report the case of a 80-year-old woman presenting with symptoms of heart failure, subsequently diagnosed with limited SSc. Cardiac function was evaluated using a combined approach based on echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging with late gadolinium enhancement. This case shows that the late diagnosis of SSc may have fatal consequences.

Keywords


systemic sclerosis; cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; echocardiography

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11152/mu.2013.2066.172.syss

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