Monica Băluță *, M. Vintilă **
* Dr. Monica Băluță, asistent universitar, medic specialist, Catedra de Medicină Internă, Spitalul Colentina, Secția Cardiologie
** Conf. Dr. Marius Vintilă, Catedra de Medicină Internă, șeful Secției Cardiologie, Spitalul Colentina
Abstract
The diseases that affect connective tissues are divided into the very rare heritable disorders of connective tissue and the so-called rheumatic diseases. The rheumatic diseases share many clinical features such as acute or chronic arthritis and a variation of systemic inflammatory manifestation.
The etiology and pathogenesis of these disorders remain obscure. They all involve the heart differently and to varying degrees, as would be expected considering the variety of connective tissue structures that make up the heart’s “skeleton”. The varied presentations and treatments of several rheumatic conditions and their cardiovascular involvement are the subjects of this first part of the paper.