Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2019 , Vol 65 , Num 2

Cardiac rehabilitation in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis: A single-program, double-effect

Esra Giray 1 ,İlker Yağcı 1
1 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Marmara University School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey DOI : 10.5606/tftrd.2019.2401 Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease which is characterized by the primary involvement of axial spine and sacroiliac joints and also extraarticular involvements including ophthalmological, cardiac, pulmonary, or neurological effects. Cardiac involvement in patients with AS has been reported to be 2 to 10%. Ventricular dysfunctions have been previously reported in patients with AS. However, there is only one case report describing primary cardiomyopathy due to AS and management with better control of inflammation and medications. Herein, we present a case of cardiomyopathy in AS in whom ejection fraction and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class improved and disease activity decreased after cardiac rehabilitation program. Keywords : Ankylosing spondylitis; cardiac rehabilitation; cardiomyopathy