The heart in rheumatoid arthritis: an echocardiographic study.

An echocardiographic study of 44 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis was carried out by means of a Picker ultrasonic laminograph. A posterior pericardial effusion was found in 14 patients (32%) and pericardial thickening in 5 (11%). The maximum amplitude of the anterior cusp of the mitral valve was reduced in 18 patients, and the diastolic (EF) slope was abnormal in 17 patients. The posterior cusp movement and left ventricle diameter were normal. The over-all incidence of cardiac involvement in these patients was 73%. The incidence of heart abnormalities given by echocardiographic diagnosis of cardiac manifestation of rehumatoid arthritis correlates well with the incidence derived from postmortem studies.