Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Cardiology

Objective: To assess left atrial function using speckle tracking echocardiography in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with control group. Methods: After full history and clinical examination, we prospectively measured left ventricular dimensions and ejection fractions, and left atrial volumes and fractions and electromechanical times, using strain rate echocardiography we measured average strain and strain rate of the left atrium in 45 (RA) patients, and 30 healthy control subjects. Results: We found strain rate E decreased significantly in the (RA) group compared with control group (p=0.0), apical 2 chamber Left atrial active emptying fraction (AEF) , expansion index (EI) , and total emptying fraction (TEF) , decreased significantly in the rheumatoid arthritis group compared with control group (p=0.01), (p=0. 0.009), (p= 0.025),respectively. Tissue Doppler velocity of mitral lateral annulus e{u2019}, and S, decreased significantly in the rheumatoid arthritis group compared with control group (p=0. 0.001), (p=0. 0.02).There was an inverse correlation in (RA) group between rheumatoid factor (RF) and average Strain rate e ( r = -0.35, p=0.002),and an inverse correlation between (RF) and tissue Doppler velocity of lateral Mitral annulus e (r=-0.37,p=0.00),and inverse correlation between (RF) and apical 2 chamber left atrial passive emptying fraction (PEF) (r=-0.24 ,p=0.03), and left atrial (TEF) (r=0. -0.26, p=0.02). Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with left atrial dysfunction; STE can provide far more valuable information about the left atrial function

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