Cardiac abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus

Cardiac abnormalities are common in SLE patients. Pericarditis is the most common, but lesions of the valves, myocardium and coronary vessels may all occur. Furthermore, vascular occlusion, including coronary arteries, may develop due to vasculitis, premature atherosclerosis or antiphospholipid antibodies associated with SLE. Heart involvement, despite its frequency, is not a prominent feature of the disease. Infact, cardiac manifestations are rarely severe and lifethreatening, more often being mild and asymptomatic. In the past they were frequently found in postmortem examinations but nowadays they can be recognized inpatients by echocardiography which is a sensitive and specific tecnique in detecting cardiac abnormalities, particularly mild pericarditis and valvular lesions. Therefore, echocardiography should be performed periodically in SLE patients.