Clinical characteristics and assessment of structural and functional myocardium changes in patients with nonspecific connective tissue disorder

Early non-invasive diagnosis of structural changes in the heart plays an important role in optimizing approaches to preventing dangerous rhythm disorders at a young age.
Aim: To study the phenotypic features of nonspecifi c connective tissue disorder (NCTD) in relation to the myocardial strain and the level of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in patients with cardiac arrhythmias and NCTD.
Results. There was an association between a local longitudinal left ventricular (LV) strain and pectus excavatum (r₁ = 0.234, p = 0.008), joint hypermobility syndrome (r₁ = 0.406, p = 0.026), spinal scoliosis (r₁ = 0.266, p = 0.003), mitral valve prolapse (MVP) (r₁ = 0.519, p = 0.003), diagnostic threshold of NCTD (r₁ = 0.395, p = 0.031) in patients with arrhythmias and NCTD;
there was an inverse weak to moderate association of body mass index (BMI) and myocardial strain in a number of LV segments. There was a signifi cant relationship between NT-proBNP and diagnostic threshold of NCTD (r1 = 0.496, p = 0.001), mitral valve prolapse (r1 = 0.469, p = 0.002).
Conclusion. Chest deformity, spinal scoliosis, joint hypermobility, mitral valve prolapse and BMI decrease in patients with arrhythmic syndrome and NCTD are associated with the myocardial strain and NT-proBNP level that can be used for the early identifi cation of myocardial remodeling in this patient cohort.

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