Non-Invasive Study of Coronary Circulation by Means of a Transthoracic Dipyridamole Stress Echocardiography with Coronary Flow Reserve Evaluation

Transthoracic echocardiography is a reliable, cheap and non-invasive technique that allows an accurate evaluation of valvular abnormalities, pericardial diseases and ventricular wall motion defects, while Doppler analysis is useful to study left ventricular diastolic filling, val‐ vularfuctioning and pulmonary pressures. Rexhepaj et al [1] found significant differences in early diastolic flow velocity (E), atrial flow velocity (A) and E/A ratio in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients compared to the control group, suggesting that a subclinical impairment of left and right ventricular function is present in RA patients, when left ventricular thickness, dimensions and myocardial performance indexes were still normal.