CMR Features in Patients With Suspected Myocarditis

Predictive Value of CMR Features in Patients With Suspected Myocarditis

Presentation of myocarditis is heterogeneous, often ranges from being asymptomatic, to chest pain, dyspnoea, palpitations, and even sudden cardiac death. Diagnosing myocarditis is challenging with no current uniform clinical gold-standard. CMR is a key investigative tool, however the predictive value of CMR features is unknown. In this study we assess 670 consecutive patients with suspected myocarditis who were referred for CMR between 2002 and 2015 at the BWH. CMR features such as late gadolinium sizing, T1 mapping, extracellular volume fraction assessment, strain analysis (feature tracking), clinical data, labortory tetsings and electrocardiogramm are linked to the outcome in order to assess its predictive value.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients referred by their treating physician to undergo CMR for "suspected myocarditis" as the primary clinical question

Exclusion criteria

• evidence of coronary artery disease
• hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
• cardiac sarcoidosis
• cardiac amyloidosis
• takotsubo cardiomyopathy
• constrictive pericarditis
• Loeffler endocarditis
• ventricular non-compaction
• cardiac tumor
• pulmonary embolism
• severe valve disease