Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a systemic inflammatory disease with no clear clinical definition of heart dysfunction. The noninvasive marker high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) detects subclinical myocardial damage. The goal of this study was to see if there was a link between hs-cTnT and left ventricular (LV) function as measured by tissue Doppler imaging in AS patients with no known cardiac risk factors. This study, which took place between January and June of 2016, utilised a cross-sectional case protocol design. In all, 40 AS patients were matched by age and gender with healthy volunteers and included in this study. Transthoracic echocardiography was utilised to examine systolic and diastolic functions, as well as tissue Doppler imaging. The levels of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T were tested and compared between two groups. AS patients showed decreased early (Em)/late (Am) diastolic myocardial velocities, mitral annular plane systolic excursion, and end-diastolic distance from the mitral annulus to the LV apex compared to controls. They, on the other hand, exhibited higher systolic myocardial velocity (Sm), isovolumetric relaxation duration, and displacement index. In AS patients, hs-cTnT levels were higher, and multivariate logistic regression studies indicated that hs-cTnT was an independent predictor of LV diastolic dysfunction.
According to these findings, AS patients showed reduced LV functioning as well as elevated hs-cTnT levels. Tissue Doppler imaging may be a good technique for detecting early functional LV problems, and hs-cTnT may be a viable biomarker of diastolic LV dysfunction in individuals with AS.
