Cardiac involved and autopsy in two patients with systemic sclerosis: Two cases report

Hang Yu; Qinwen Wen; Xiaolu Zhang; Hanqing Zhang; Xiudi Wu

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15555

Cardiac involved and autopsy in two patients with systemic sclerosis: Two cases report

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 18;9(5):e15555. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15555. eCollection 2023 May.

Authors

Hang Yu^{1

2}, Qinwen Wen¹, Xiaolu Zhang², Hanqing Zhang², Xiudi Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, 59 Liuting Road, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315010, PR China.
² School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315211, PR China.

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease with high mortality. One of the most common causes of death in potential SSc patients is cardiac arrest. However, the pathogenesis of cardiac death is not very clear. As far as we know, there are few autopsy reports on this subject. Our autopsy report on two fatal cases of heart injury in SSc patients revealed evidence of myocarditis, focal myocardial necrosis, and myocardial fibrosis. Our findings suggest that chronic inflammation of the heart may lead to extensive fibrosis, which could contribute to the high mortality rate observed in SSc patients. Early detection of heart injury in SSc patients using existing technology is necessary to improve patient outcomes. Future research should focus on developing more effective methods for early detection and management of heart involvement in SSc.

Keywords: Autopsy; Cardiac involvement; Case report; Systemic sclerosis.

Publication types

Case Reports