Cardiologic Involvement in Rheumatic Diseases

Rheumatic diseases are inflammatory conditions that can affect several organs, hereby including the heart. Chronic inflammation and autoimmunity yield a substantial risk of cardiovascular disease, and cardiologic involvement is increasingly found in many rheumatic disorders. Systemic autoimmune diseases may affect any cardiac structure, with the heart valves, the conduction system, the myocardium, the endocardium, the pericardium, and the coronary arteries variably involved. Likewise, cardiac complications range from mild conditions with trivial symptoms to life-threatening disorders with ominous prognosis. Thus, precocious detection of cardiac involvement is paramount to start a meticulous workup and begin an adequate treatment in a timely manner. In this chapter, we examine the manifold cardiovascular manifestations of rheumatic disorders and discuss the available diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, to increase awareness regarding the extensive interaction between cardiology and rheumatology.