| Abstract: | AIM: To characterize clinically and electrocardiographically the condition of the heart in chronic iron deficient anemia (IDA), to study hemodynamic mechanisms of heart impairment for early detection of diastolic myocardial dysfunction in long-term course of sideropenia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Clinical and ECG examinations were made in 400 IDA patients. Echocardiography and dopplerechocardiography were made in 95 and 27 patients, respectively. Patients with non-anemic myocardiodystrophy were withdrawn. Mean age of the patients was 35.4 +/- 3.8 years, mean Hb level--79.5 +/- 6.5 g/l, mean anemia duration 6.9 +/- 4.2 years. RESULTS: The severity of cardiac symptoms directly correlated with severity and duration of anemic sideropenic syndrome. 100% had heart complaints, 91.3% had mild chronic cardiac failure, 86.2% patients showed changes on the electrocardiogram. Diastolic insufficiency of both right and left ventricular myocardium was registered in almost all the examinees. CONCLUSION: Long-term anemia due to iron deficiency promotes metabolic and dystrophic alterations in the myocardium manifesting with diastolic dysfunction of both the ventricles prior to systolic failure. The study of cardiac diastolic function in IDA allows detection of early symptoms of cardiac failure which requires pharmacological correction. |
