[Cardiovascular complications of collagen diseases].

Recent progress in the field of clinical epidemiology and diagnosis of major cardiovascular complications of collagen diseases were reviewed including systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, polymyositis.dermatomyositis, polyarteritis and mixed connective tissue disease. Major cardiac complications comprise pericarditis, myocardial disease, cardiac conduction system disease, coronary artery disease and valvular disease. Vascular complications comprise necrotizing vasculitis as a major organic involvement and Raynaud's phenomenon as a major functional involvement. Due to the recent development of sensitive methods of evaluating cardiovascular abnormalities, clinical diagnosing rate of cardiovascular complications in the early stage has been considerably increasing in patients with collagen diseases. On the other hand, number of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular complications due to long-term corticosteroid therapy has been also gradually increasing.