Why the study?
Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are increased in rheumatoid arthritis, but valvular heart disease, especially aortic involvement, has been rarely reported.
Highlights the importance of echocardiographic assessment for valvular lesions in patients with long-standing rheumatoid arthritis complaining of dyspnea.
RA-associated severe AI may warrant echocardiographic vigilance; leaves open prevalence and causality in larger cohorts.
Recent epidemiological studies have reported an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The most common cardiac involvement in RA is pericarditis, followed by myocarditis, coronary vasculitis, then aortitis. However, valvular heart disease has been rarely reported especially the aortic one. We report here a case of RA associated with a severe aortic insufficiency (AI) with a thickened aortic valve on the echocardiography and aortic regurgitation. All causes of AI other than RA were excluded before concluding to a complication of cardiac RA complication. In long-standing RA, echocardiography should be assessed if patient complain about dyspnea in order to not overlook the valvular lesions.
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Yosr El Mabrouk (2022) studied this question.
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