Role of Echocardiography in the Assessment of Cardiac Involvement in Takayasu Arteritis

Abstract Background: The aim of this study is to investigate echocardiographic features of patients with cardiac involvement and evaluate the value of echocardiography in Takayasu arteritis (TA). Methods: All patients with TA admitted from January 2015 to December 2021 were classified into patients with cardiac involvement (group 1, n=68) and patients without cardiac involvement (group 2, n=59). This retrospective study compared the clinical manifestations and echocardiographic parameters between the two groups and further explored the relationship between pulmonary hypertension (PH) and echocardiographic parameters. Clinical, imaging and laboratory results of the TA patients were obtained from hospital files. Results: In our study, 68 patients (53.54%) had cardiac involvement. Valvular abnormalities were found in 55 (80.88%) patients in group 1, coronary artery abnormalities in 10 (14.71%), myocardial abnormalities in 18 (26.47%) and PH in 11 patients (16.18%), respectively. Compared to group 2, both TA patients in group 1 associated with and without PH presented with the significantly differences of echocardiographic parameters regarding left atrial diameter (LAD), interventricular septum thickness (IVST), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular (LV) mass, LV mass/body surface area (BSA), main pulmonary artery diameter (MPAD) (P0.05). Conclusions: Cardiac involvement is not infrequent in TA patients and it should be carefully evaluated. Echocardiography plays a vital role in the assessment of cardiac involvement in TA which is helpful for diagnosis and management of TA.