Assessment of left ventricular function by strain-strain rate echocardiography in patients with celiac disease.

BACKGROUND/AIM Celiac is predominantly a disease of the small intestine characterized by chronic malabsorption in genetically susceptible individuals who ingest grains containing. gluten, such as wheat, barley, and rye. In the present study, we evaluate left ventricular function in patients with celiac disease by using strain and strain rate echocardiography imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty celiac patients and 20 healthy controls were included in this study. Left ventricle systolic and diastolic functions were evaluated with standard 2-dimension, M-mode, conventional Doppler echocardiography. Strain and strain rate parameters were obtained for 8 segmentsof the left ventricle. RESULTS There were no significant differences between patients and controls regarding left ventricle function as assessed by 2-dimensional, M-mode, conventional Doppler. Differences between straini rate values did not reach statistical significance, but when strain and average strain values were taken into consideration, statistically significant differences were found between the groups. CONCLUSION We determined the subclinical effect of celiac disease on left ventricular systolic function by using strain echocardiography imaging for the first time in the literature. We showed that evaluation of the cardiac involvement in celiac patients by sophisticated echocardiography techniques is essential.