Assessment of left ventricular functions with tissue Doppler, strain, and strain rate echocardiography in patients with familial Mediterranean fever

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the early changes in regional and global systolic and diastolic myocardial functions in patients with familial Mediterranean fever without any cardiovascular symptoms using tissue Doppler and strain and strain rate echocardiography and compared them to the results of a control group. METHODS: This study has a cross-sectional and observational design. FMF patients with normal left ventricular function were included in the study. We excluded patients who had arrhythmia, acquired/congenital heart disease, pericarditis, or acute attack. We compared 45 children with familial Mediterranean fever on colchicine therapy and 45 age- and sex-matched healthy children. RESULTS: The 45 patients with familial Mediterranean fever included 24 (55.3%) girls and 21 (46.7%) boys with a mean age of 11.3±3.7 (range 2-18) years. The mean disease duration was 4.6±2.4 (range 0.5-10) years. In the patient group, the homozygous M694V mutation was the most common (64.4%) mutation. The patients with familial Mediterranean fever had statistically lower longitudinal global strain, radial global strain, and strain rates (-14.44±4.77%, 14.80±6.29%, and 0.59±0.24 s, respectively) than the controls (-17.40±1.79%, 17.53±4.63%, and 0.83±0.51 s) (p<0.05). The circumferential global strain did not differ significantly between the groups. CONCLUSION: Patients with familial Mediterranean fever who are subclinical from a cardiac aspect might have normal left ventricular function as measured by conventional echocardiography. However, the disease affects their myocardial tissue, and these patients should be followed with conventional, strain, and strain rate echocardiography techniques regularly.