Myocardial fibrosis and arrhythmic burden in systemic sclerosis

Autor: Laura Ross, Benedict Costello, Zoe Brown, Dylan Hansen, Anniina Lindqvist, Wendy Stevens, Andrew Burns, David Prior, Mandana Nikpour, André La Gerche
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Rheumatology. 61:4497-4502
ISSN: 1462-0332
1462-0324
Popis: Objectives Cardiac complications of SSc are a leading cause of SSc-associated death. Cardiac imaging for identifying substrate abnormality may be useful in predicting risk of cardiac arrhythmias or future cardiac failure. The aim of this study was to quantify the burden of asymptomatic fibro-inflammatory myocardial disease using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and assess the relationship between asymptomatic myocardial fibrosis and cardiac arrhythmias in SSc. Methods Thirty-two patients with SSc with no documented history of pulmonary vascular or heart disease underwent CMR with gadolinium and 24-h ambulatory ECG. Focal myocardial fibrosis was assessed using post-gadolinium imaging and diffuse fibro-inflammatory myocardial disease quantified using T1- and T2-mapping. CMR results were compared with an age- and sex-matched control group. Results Post-gadolinium focal fibrosis was prevalent in SSc but not controls (30% vs 0%, p Conclusion In SSc patients without evidence of overt cardiac disease, a high burden of myocardial fibrosis and arrhythmias was identified. However, there was no clear association between focal or diffuse myocardial fibrosis and arrhythmias, suggesting CMR may have limited use as a screening tool to identify SSc patients at risk of future significant arrhythmias.
Databáze: OpenAIRE