Cardiovascular Involvement in Behçet's Disease

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate left and right ventricular functions at rest by pulsed-wave Doppler and tissue Doppler echocardiographymethods in patients with Behçet s disease (BD) without overt cardiovascular disease, and compare with age and sex matched subjects. Patients and methods: Fifty-four patients with BD (12 males, 42 females; mean age 35±8 years; range 18 to 51 years) without cardiovascularsymptoms, and 36 age-matched controls (12 males, 24 females; mean age 33±5 years; range 18 to 47 years) were included. Cardiac functions wereevaluated by conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography. Results: Although conventional indices of left ventricular systolic function were similar in both groups, mitral annular systolic velocity was lower(p