Diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis in patients presenting with cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Hatipoglu S; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Kettering General Hospital, Kettering, UK.; Gardezi SKM; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Azzu A; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Baksi J; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Imperial College, London, UK.; Alpendurada F; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Imperial College, London, UK.; Izgi C; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Imperial College, London, UK.; Khattar R; Cardiology Department, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Kouranos V; Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Wells AU; Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Sharma R; Cardiology Department, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Wechalekar K; Nuclear Medicine Department, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Pennell DJ; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.; Cardiology Department, Imperial College, London, UK.; Mohiaddin R; CMR Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK r.mohiaddin@rbht.nhs.uk.; Cardiology Department, Imperial College, London, UK.
- Source
- Publisher: BMJ Pub. Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9602087 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1468-201X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13556037 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Heart Subsets: MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
Objective: Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) may present with cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias. There are limited data on this subgroup of patients with CS. Advanced imaging including cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and cardiac 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) are used for diagnosis. This study aimed to describe advanced imaging patterns suggestive of CS among patients presenting with cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias.
Methods: An imaging database of a CS referral centre (Royal Brompton Hospital, London) was screened for patients presenting with cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias and having imaging features of suspected CS. Patients diagnosed with definite or probable/possible CS were included.
Results: Study population included 60 patients (median age 49 years) with male predominance (76.7%). The left ventricle was usually non-dilated with mildly reduced ejection fraction (53.4±14.8%). CMR studies showed extensive late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) with 5 (4-8) myocardial segments per patient affected; the right ventricular (RV) side of the septum (28/45) and basal anteroseptum (28/45) were most frequently involved. Myocardial inflammation by FDG-PET was detected in 45 out of 58 patients vs 11 out of 33 patients with oedema imaging available on CMR. When PET was treated as reference to detect myocardial inflammation, CMR oedema imaging was 33.3% sensitive and 77% specific.
Conclusions: In patients with CS presenting with cardiac arrest or life-threatening arrhythmias, LGE was located in areas where the cardiac conduction system travels (basal anteroseptal wall and RV side of the septum). While CMR was the imaging technique that raised possibility of cardiac scarring, oedema imaging had low sensitivity to detect myocardial inflammation compared with FDG-PET.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.
(© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)