• George Makavos, Maria Varoudi, Konstantina Papangelopoulou, Eirini Kapniari, Panagiotis Plotas, Ignatios Ikonomidis, and Evangelia Papadavid.
• Second Cardiology Department, Attikon Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 12462 Athens, Greece.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2020 Sep 1; 56 (9).

AbstractAutoimmune rheumatic diseases are systemic diseases frequently affecting the heart and vessels. The main cardiovascular complications are pericarditis, myocarditis, valvular disease, obstructive coronary artery disease and coronary microcirculatory dysfunction, cardiac failure and pulmonary hypertension. Echocardiography, including transthoracic two and three-dimensional echocardiography, Doppler imaging, myocardial deformation and transesophageal echo, is an established and widely available imaging technique for the identification of cardiovascular manifestations that are crucial for prognosis in rheumatic diseases. Echocardiography is also important for monitoring the impact of drug treatment on cardiac function, coronary microcirculatory function, valvular function and pulmonary artery pressures. In this article we summarize established and evolving knowledge on the role of echocardiography for diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular abnormalities in rheumatic diseases.

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