Exercise stress echocardiography for detection of pulmonary arterial hypertension in a patient with systemic sclerosis.

The authors report the case of a 57-year-old patient, diagnosed with systemic sclerosis 16 years ago. She had been followed in the rheumatology outpatient clinic since 2003 and complained of marked fatigue and dyspnea on exertion. In addition to full medical evaluation, she also underwent standard Doppler echocardiography at rest, which was unremarkable, and exercise stress echocardiography. In the latter examination, she was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, later confirmed during right heart catheterization. The authors discuss the potential value of this methodology for the study of patients with systemic sclerosis.