TY - JOUR T1 - Detection of right ventricular dysfunction by tissue Doppler imaging in asymptomatic patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 212 LP - 215 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00065210 VL - 37 IS - 1 AU - E. Gialafos AU - A. Rapti AU - V. Kouranos AU - K. Aggeli AU - T.G. Papaioannou AU - A. Kallianos AU - G. Siasos AU - C. Kostopoulos AU - C. Stefanadis Y1 - 2011/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/37/1/212.abstract N2 - To the Editors:Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) is a relatively new ultrasound modality in echocardiography, which is used to detect left and right ventricular functional abnormalities early and accurately by recording systolic and diastolic velocities of the mitral and tricuspidal annulus, respectively. The value of this method has been corroborated on numerous studies describing right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in a variety of systemic diseases with pulmonary and/or cardiovascular involvement 1.Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown aetiology characterised by cardiorespiratory manifestations, among others. RV dysfunction is often apparent but not clinically recognised until pulmonary hypertension has been developed 2. The purpose of this study was to evaluate RV function in patients with sarcoidosis by the use of ultrasound, including the TDI modality, and correlate it with clinical, respiratory and cardiac parameters.We conducted an observational case–control study. Consecutive sarcoidosis patients were recruited from the outpatient Sarcoidosis Clinic of the General Hospital of Chest Diseases of Athens, Athens, Greece between October 2007 and June 2008. The primary criterion for enrolment was the presence of biopsy-proven pulmonary sarcoidosis without the presence of cardiac involvement, according to the modified criteria of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare 3. The exclusion criterion was the presence of any associated disease that could influence systolic and/or diastolic properties of the heart. Subgroup analyses were performed with the patients divided in two groups based on the therapy administered: a subgroup with patients who did not receive any therapy and a subgroup with patients who received any kind of therapy (cortisone, etc.). Those who did not receive any medication were further classified into groups according to the disease stage at which the patients originally presented. All patients were compared to healthy volunteers. The two groups (patients and healthy controls) were age-, … ER -