Insights in Pediatric Cardiology

Assessment of aortic and left ventricular functions in children with celiac disease.

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease characterized with immune response to gluten in genetically predisposed people with inflammation, villous atrophy, crypt hyperplasia of the intestine effecting girls predominantly with a prevelance of 1-2% [1,2]. Genetic, immune, envoirenmental factors effect development of the disease. Autoimmune responses to tissue transglutaminase and endomysium are used for serological evaluation to identify the disease [3]. Gluten free diet (GFD) is suggested for reducing symptoms. Patients may be asymptomatic or severe symptomatic secondary to malabsorption. Extraintestinal clinical findings effecting hematologic, endocrinologic and neurologic systems also may be present. One another effected system is cardiovascular system. There are cases published with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) mostly in adults, but a casual relation between CD and DCM has not been proven yet. The inflammation in CD is systemic, effecting not only intestines but also extraintestinal tissues and is thought to be responsible from endothelial dysfunction that shows progression to atherosclerosis reflected by arterial stiffness and thicness [3]. Therefore our aim in this study is to evaluate the patients cardiac systolic and diastolic functions of the left ventricle and elasticity parameters of the adjacent aortic wall and to determine whether there is a clinical or subclinical cardiac involvement or not [1,2].

Author(s):

Ajda Mutlu Mıhcıoglu1*, Hasret Ayyıldız Civan2

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