Fetal cardiac functional changes in pregnancies with Behcet's disease: A case-control study

Background

Behcet's disease usually progresses with remission during pregnancy, but early subtle changes might be detected in the heart of these fetuses due to inflammation.

Aims

We aimed to evaluate the cardiac functions in fetuses of pregnant women with Behcet's disease (BD).

Study design

Prospective case-control study.

Subjects

This prospective study enrolled pregnant women diagnosed with Behcet's disease before pregnancy. Twenty-four pregnancies with Behcet's disease and 48 healthy pregnancies were included at 32–34 gestational weeks.

Outcome measures

Pulsed-wave Doppler and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were used to assess cardiac functions.

Results

Right ventricle (RV) E (early) wave and left ventricle (LV) E were significantly increased in pregnancies with BD (p = .008, p = .041, respectively). Decreased right ventricle E' (peak systolic velocity) was detected with TDI in the case group (6.2 ± 0.5, p < .001). E/E' ratios for RV and LV were significantly increased in the case group (p < .001, p = .001, respectively). The correlation between the duration of the disease and fetal cardiac functions was also evaluated. For RV, E (r = 0.735, p < .001), E' (r = −0.735, p < .001), E/E' (r = 0.894, p < .001), were strongly correlated with the disease duration. The study also showed the correlation between disease duration and LV E' (r = −0.735, p = .005), LV E (r = 0.750, p < .001), and LV E/E' (r = 0.820, p < .001).

Conclusion

This is the first study to evaluate the fetal cardiac functions in fetuses of pregnancies with BD. Although BD usually progresses with remission during pregnancy, early subclinical diastolic changes might occur in the heart of these fetuses due to inflammation.