426 SPECKLE-TRACKING GLOBAL LONGITUDINAL STRAIN AS A PREDICTOR OF CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS PATIENTS


 
 
 Cardiac involvement in patients affected by systemic sclerosis is frequent, although mostly asymptomatic, and associated with a negative prognosis. It may be secondary to pulmonary hypertension or defined as an actual systemic-sclerosis related cardiomyopathy, a standalone entity affecting the heart primarily and globally. Speckle-tracking derived global longitudinal strain (GLS) has been proven to be a cost-effective tool in the detection of LV and RV dysfunction in patients with SSc and no overt cardiac disease. The aim of our study was to assess whether GLS can predict clinical outcomes in patients with systemic sclerosis.
 
 
 
 We conducted a prospective observational study enrolling all consecutive patients referred to our “cardiology clinic for autoimmune diseases and pulmonary hypertension” between June 2016 and January 2022. All patients had a confirmed diagnosis of SSc according to the EULAR guidelines and no overt cardiac disease, pulmonary hypertension, or atrial fibrillation at the time of enrollment. For each patient, echocardiogram and GLS calculations were performed at baseline and at each follow-up. We also collected all data regarding clinical history, hospitalizations or adverse events and ECGs.
 
 
 
 164 patients (148 female, 58±14 years)were enrolled. 19 (11.6%) patients died during a median follow-up of 3.2 years for mainly non-cardiovascular deaths (7.3%) while cardiovascular deaths were lower (3% non-sudden, 1.3% sudden). Left GLS at first visit was associated with all-cause death, with a 1% left GLS worsening associated with a 19% increased risk of death after adjusting for age, gender, and LVEF (adjusted HR 1.19; 95% CI 1.05-1.35; p=0.007).Similarly, right GLS at first visit was associated with all-cause death, with a 1% right GLS worsening associated with a 12% increased risk of death after adjusting for age, gender, and TAPSE (adjusted HR 1.12; 95% CI 1.03-1.21; p=0.005).Patients with a left GLS worse than -20% had a 3.5-fold increased risk of death when compared to patients with better left GLS (HR 3.55; 95% CI 1.28-9.88; p=0.015). Similarly, patients with a right GLS worse than -20% had a 4.5-fold increased risk of death when compared to patients with better left GLS (HR 4.47; 95% CI 1.4-13.74; p=0.009).Both left and right ventricular GLS were not associated with changes in risk of all-cause hospitalizations, cardiovascular hospitalizations or subsequent diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension.
 
 
 
 GLS is a reproducible, cost effective echocardiographic based method to assess both primary heart disease and its progression. It has proven to be associated with clinical outcomes in patients with systemic sclerosis, therefore allowing a prompt intervention when needed in order to try and prolong the life expectancy of this cohort of patients.
