14.3 Early cardiovascular risk assessment in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Cardiac involvement in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

An insidious progression of cardiovascular (CV) involvement is generally associated with rheumatologic diseases and finally regarded as a major source of morbidity and mortality in Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients. JIA could involve all of the cardiac structures, including pericardium, myocardium, endocardium; coronary vessels; valves and conduction system. Development of pericarditis, myocarditis, endocarditis and ventricular dysfunction are not unexpected issues in the progress of JIA. It is essential to ensure a comprehensive follow-up with advanced and up-to-date diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for prevention of CV complications in JIA patients. Since these are all associated with an unfavorable prognosis, it is necessary to detect subclinical cardiac involvement in CV asymptomatic patients, in order to start adequate management and treatment. Furthermore, controlling chronic inflammatory state of JIA by new treatment modalities will also significantly reduce the overall morbidity and mortality related to CV diseases. In this review, we aimed to investigate CV involvement patterns in patients with JIA.

Use of tissue Doppler and its comparison with other pulse Doppler echocardiography in the evaluation of diastolic functions in patients with active juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a systemic chronic inflammatory disease. Cardiac involvement as pericarditis, myocarditis and valvular disease is common in JIA. This study aims to assess left ventricular (LV) diastolic functions with tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and to compare it with conventional Doppler echocardiography (pulse wave Doppler (PWD)) techniques in patients with active JIA. Forty-five patients with active JIA and 47 healthy age- and sex-matched controls were included in this study. Duration of disease ranged from 6 to 138 months (mean 49.59 ± 31.25 months). In addition to PWD echocardiographic methods, TDI was performed to assess LV functions in all participants. On PWD echocardiography analysis, the JIA group had lower peak E velocity (p < 0.001), higher peak A velocity (p < 0.001) and more prolonged isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) (p = 0.02). E/A ratio was found to be lower in patients with JIA than that in the control group (p < 0.001). Patients with JIA had a much higher E velocity trace integral (VTI) and A VTI when compared to controls (respectively p = 0.03, p = 0.04). Mitral annular early diastolic velocity (Em), among TDI parameters, was found to be lower in patients with JIA than that in the control group (p < 0.001). Em/Am (mitral annular late diastolic velocity) ratio was found to be lower in JIA patients compared with that in the control group (p < 0.001). There was an increase in IVRT in JIA patients compared to control group (p = 0.04). Though Em VTI was similar in the two groups, patients with JIA had a much higher Am VTI when compared to controls (respectively p = 0.48, p < 0.001). E/Em ratio was higher in patients with JIA than in the control group (p < 0.05). LV diastolic functions were impaired in patients with active JIA, in the absence of clinical evidence of cardiac disease. We have concluded that TDI solo, or jointly with PWD echocardiography, is valuable for the evaluation of diastolic functions in active JIA patients.

QT dispersion and cardiac involvement in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the commonest cause of chronic inflammatory arthritis in childhood. Cardiac involvement as pericarditis, myocarditis and valvular disease is known to occur in patients with JIA (JIA), as it does in adults with rheumatoid arthritis. There are, however, few descriptions concerning systolic and diastolic functions of the left ventricle (LV) in children with JIA. QT dispersion (QTd) is simple noninvasive arrhythmogenic marker that can be used to assess homogeneity of cardiac repolarization and which has not been studied in JIA patients before. A recent study found that rheumatoid arthritis patients had an abnormally longer QTd and corrected QT (cQTd) dispersion, markers for ventricular arrhythmogenicity. This study assessed QTd and cQTd and their relation with systolic and diastolic function of the LV in a group of children with JIA. We performed electrocardiography and Doppler echocardiography on patients and controls. Maximum QT (QTmax), minimum QT (QTmin), QTd, corrected QT, maximum corrected QT (cQTmax), minimum corrected QT (cQTmin) and cQTd intervals were measured from standard 12-lead electrocardiography. No statistically significant differences were found between the groups in QTd and cQTd. Among the diastolic parameters, increased late flow velocity, decreased early flow velocity and prolonged isovolumic relaxation time reflected an abnormal relaxation form of diastolic dysfunction. During 12 months of follow-up, no ventricular arrhythmias were documented in either group.