ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY SJOGRENS-SYNDROME

Cardiac involvement in 27 consecutive patients fulfilling the criteria for primary Sjogren's syndrome was evaluated using echo-doppler-cardi ography. A clinical physical examination showed that the heart was nor mal in all patients. Nine (33%) had signs of present or previous peric arditis with effusion and/or fibrin deposition, four of them had chest symptoms. The pericarditis patients were slightly older, had signific antly shorter disease duration, had significantly increased levels of orosomucoid and haptoglobin, and were significantly more often antinuc lear-antibody positive than those without pericarditis. Of the echocar diographic measurements, the left ventricular systolic dimension was s ignificantly smaller and the fractional shortening of the left ventric le significantly higher in the pericarditis patients. However, four of the nine pericarditis patients had localized hypokinesia of the left ventricle, all with unspecific ECG changes, while only one without per icarditis showed this symptom. No patient had low voltage, ST-T elevat ion or conduction abnormalities. Mitral valvular thickening was found in one patient and age-related sclerosis of the aortic cusps appeared in some.