Cardiac diseases in AIDS echocardiography

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Raviteja Guddeti, M.B.B.S. [2]

Echocardiography is the most specific test for diagnosing the degree of systolic LV dysfunction in HIV infected patients with cardiomyopathy. Common findings include effusions and ventricular dysfunction.

Possible echocardiographic findings in AIDS patients with cardiac involvement include:

• Pericardial effusions in pericarditis
• Ventricular dilatation in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)
• LV dysfunction in heart failure (increased LV mass with low-normal or increased wall thickness and dilated LV)
• Hypertrophied right ventricle, RV dysfunction and elevated pulmonary artery pressures in pulmonary hypertension
• Vegetations in infective endocarditis
• Tricuspid regurgitation
• Mitral valve prolapse

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