Use of the new Lake Louise Criteria improves CMR detection of atypical forms of acute myocarditis

The purpose of our study was to compare diagnostic performance of old and new Lake Louise Criteria (oLLC and nLLC) among different clinical presentations: infarct-like (IL), cardiomyopathic (CM) and arrhythmic (AR). 102 patients with clinical suspicion of acute myocarditis underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) on a 1.5 T scanner. Protocol included cine-SSFP, T2-weighted STIR, T2 mapping, early and late gadolinium enhancement and T1 mapping acquired before and after gadolinium administration. The degree of agreement has been calculated with Cohen’s K test. 42 patients also underwent endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). IL onset was present in 54/102 patients, CM in 28/102 and AR in 20/102. nLLC were positive in 58.3% of the patients, while oLLC in 37.9%, k = 0.57 (IC: 0.428–0.713). The degree of agreement between nLLC and oLLC was 0.49 (IC: 0.111–0.876) for AR onset (nLLC positive in 35% vs oLLC in 15%), 0.25 (IC: 0.035–0.459) for CM pattern (nLLC positive in 60.7% vs oLLC 17.9%) and 0.73 (IC: 0.543–0.912) for IL presentation (nLLC positive in 66.7% vs oLLC in 57.4%). Diagnostic accuracy was 75% for both nLLC and oLLC among IL onset, and 41.6% for oLLC vs 66.7% for nLLC, as regards CM clinical presentation. nLLC have improved diagnostic performance of CMR for the diagnosis of acute myocarditis, in particular for atypical clinical presentation.

Pericardial Effusion Is a Marker of Increased Mortality in Thalassemia Major Patients

Introduction. In different types of not-hematological diseases the presence of a small pericardial effusion (PE) was associated with worse survival even after adjustment for patient characteristics, suggesting that it is a marker of underlying disease.In thalassemia major (TM) pericardial effusion was shown to be one of the manifestations of heart disease but its potential prognostic importance has never been investigated in the modern era. Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) by cine SSFP sequences was demonstrated to be extremely sensitive to even a small amount of PE. This is the first prospective study evaluating if the presence of pericardial effusion is associated with increased mortality in TM. Methods. 1259 patients (648 females, mean age 31.02 ± 8.64 years) enrolled in the Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia (MIOT) were prospectively followed from their first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. CMR was used to quantify myocardial iron (MIO) overload by a multislice multiecho T2* approach and to assess biventricular function parameters and to detect PE by cine SSFP sequences. Results. PE was present in 25 (2.0%) patients.Patients with and without PE were comparable for age and ratio of men/women. At the baseline, the percentage of patients with MIO (global heart T2* value < 20 ms) was comparable between patients with and without PE (12.0 % vs 28.7%; P=0.074) and left ventricular and right ventricular ejection fractions were not significantly different between the two groups. Mean follow-up (FU) time was 44.55 ± 20.35 months and there were 15 deaths. Mortality was greater for patients with PE compared to those without an effusion (8.0% vs 1.1%, P=0.034). PE was a significant predictive factor for death (hazard ratio-HR=12.64, 95%CI=2.78-57.42, P=0.001). PE remained a significant prognosticator for death also in a multivariate model including MIO ms (PE: HR=17.36, 95%CI=3.65-82.62, P<0.0001and global heart T2* < 20 ms: HR=3.07, 95%CI=1.07-8.75, P=0.036). Conclusions. PE is quite rare in TM patients and it is not related to myocardial iron overload. An important role in the development of PE could be played by the 'iron-induced' pericardial siderosis but, due to the limitations of the current non-invasive CMR techniques, we were not able to address this issue. PE was found to be a strong predictor for death, independently by the presence of myocardial iron overload. The non-invasive diagnosis of pericardial effusion is important for a more complete definition of the cardiac involvement of TM patients. The increased risk of death associated with PE may be used along with other clinical characteristics when estimating a patient's prognosis and monitoring. Disclosures Pepe: Chiesi: Speakers Bureau; ApoPharma Inc.: Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Speakers Bureau.

Case 13.22

69-year-old woman with a chronic abnormality on echocardiogram and mildly reduced left ventricular function Two-chamber end-diastolic (Figure 13.22.1) and end-systolic (Figure 13.22.2) frames from a cine SSFP acquisition demonstrate thinning of the mid-apical left ventricular myocardium with extensive trabeculations within the left ventricular cavity....

Case 13.16

72-year-old woman with known coronary artery disease; echocardiography noted a possible left atrial mass, and MRI was suggested for further assessment Horizontal long-axis images from a cine SSFP acquisition (Figure 13.16.1) demonstrate dumbbell-shaped widening of the interatrial septum with uniform high signal intensity. Axial double inversion recovery FSE proton density-weighted images (...

Case 13.17

38-year-old man with progressive chest pressure and dyspnea Systolic (Figure 13.17.1A) and early diastolic (Figure 13.17.1B) frames from a 3-chamber cine SSFP acquisition demonstrate thickening of the basal anteroseptal wall. Note in systole the dark jet of mitral insufficiency directed posteriorly. Short-axis MDE images (...

Case 13.18

76-year-old man with progressive exertional dyspnea Two-chamber (Figure 13.18.1) and 4-chamber (Figure 13.18.2) systolic frames from cine SSFP acquisitions demonstrate hypertrophy of the mid myocardium sparing the base of the left ventricle and severe thinning of the apex. Two-chamber postgadolinium MDE image (...