Assessment of left ventricular contractile functions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease according to Disease Activity.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to the groups of two major diseases including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).The aim of this study was to investigate subclinical involvement of cardiac functions in IBD patients according to disease activity status by speckle tracking echocardiography (2DSTE). METHODS This prospective study included a total of 72 consecutive patients with IBD and 93 matched healthy control subjects. All participants underwent conventional and 2DSTE assessment. The patient group was subdivided as active disease and remission for further investigations of the effect of disease activity on left ventricular (LV) contractile functions. RESULTS The longitudinal strain values were significantly lower in the IBD patients compared to the control group (GLS2C-15.74±6.33% vs. -18.8±2.87%; p: 0.001, GLS4C-16.61±9.91% vs. 20.12±2.57%; p: 0.008, GS-15.47±6.87 % vs19.48±2.16 % p: 0.0001). The circumferential strain measurements showed a nonsignificant trend of depressed contractile functions in IBD patients. Active IBD patients were found to have similar global longitudinal /circumferential strain values as patients in remission. Correlation analysis revealed that neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio were positively correlated with global longitudinal strain and the PLT were negatively correlated with global circumferential strain. Deterioration of LV diastolic functions examined with E/E'and mitral deceleration time was found in IBD patients compared to the healthy control group. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study demonstrated that left ventricular global longitudinal contractile and diastolic functions were decreased in patients with IBD. Clinicians should aim to maintain remission periods and prevent flare-ups as far as possible.