Cardiac morphofunctional injuries in patients with hepatitis C virus: doppler echocardiographic evaluation.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the possible morphological and functional heart injuries in hepatitis C virus patients. METHODS Control-case study analyzing Doppler echocardiographic aspects in 31 hepatitis C virus patients and 20 controls. RESULTS There were no significant difference in relation to the myocardial thickening, left ventricular diameters, circumferential shortening, ejection fraction, mitral valve flow velocities, tissue sistolic and diastolic mitral annular ones. CONCLUSION Individuals with hepatitis C virus in the initial phases of the disease did not show morpho-functional abnormalities of the heart when evaluated by Doppler echocardiography.