الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION& Aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Systemic sclerosis (SSe) is a multisystem disorder of unknown aetiology culminating in fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs. It is characterised by fibrotic arteriosclerosis of peripheral and visceral vasculature. Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis can be manifested as myocardial disease, pericardial disease, conduction system disturbance or arrhythmias. Clinical cardiac involvement is a poor prognostic factor. Asymptomatic cardiac abnormalities are seen more often in diffuse systemic sclerosis. Cardiac ultrasound is one of the most important non-invasive techniques for cardiovascular diagnosis that provides reliable information together with patient safety. The advantages of echocardiography over the other non-invasive diagnostic tests are that it is painless; the equipment is mobile, therefore can be operated at the patients bedside; takes 15 to 30 minutes to perform a complete examination and it is an available screening device for changes over an extended period of time. The aim of the present work was to study cardiac affection in patients with systemic sclerosis using echocardiographic and electrocardiographic parameters and correlate such echocardiographic and electrocardiographic changes with some clinical and laboratory parameters in such patients. To reach this goal, we studied ten patients with systemic sclerosis as a test group, 8 were females and 2 were males with age ranging from 28 to 57 years. In addition, ten normal persons of matched age and sex were also examined as a reference control group.