PS6:123 Extended t2-times in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (cmr) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (sle) and persisted dyspnoea: is sle-associated myocarditis an underestimated problem?. (21st March 2018) - Sewerin, P
Abstract : Background: To investigate the value of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and T2-mapping in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and persistent dyspnoea without sings for pulmonary involvement (conventional X-rays and pulmonary function testing) as a possible sign for myocardial involvement. Methods: 11 women fulfilling the ACR criteria for SLE (mean age 37±14.81 years, mean disease duration 13.75±8.47 years, mean SLEDAI 6.82±3) with persistent dyspnoea (at least NYHA II) but absence of pathological findings in electrocardiogram (ECG), echocardiography and lung function were investigated by CMR. CMR was conducted with a 1.5 Tesla MRI-System (Achieva, Philips, Best, Netherlands) using a 32-channel coil. T2 mapping was done using a respiration navigator gated Gradient and Spin-Echo sequence (GRASE, 15 T2 echoes separated by 10 ms, res: 1 × 1 × 10 mm², 3 short axis slices). Images were post-processed using software based on the LabView environment for local T2 value generation (T2 mapping). Strain analysis was conducted entering cine-images into myocardial feature tracking (FTI) analysis software (TomTec Imaging Systems, Unterschleißheim, Germany). A cohort eleven of age and gender matched healthy controls (HC) served as controls. Results: All SLE patients showed significantly extended T2 times as a sign of local inflammation compared with age matched healthy controls (p<0.05). Moreover, the global systolic longitudinal strain (GLS) as means by systolic function was significantly decreased. In addition, global early diastolic strain rate displayed diastolic dysfunction in comparison to controls. Conclusions: SLE patients with persistent dyspnoea in absence of pathological findings in ECG and echocardiography showed significantly extended T2-times in MRI as a sign of local fluid content as a part of myocardial inflammation, reduced GLS and diastolic dysfunction, which would be missed by using conventional technics. CMR and T2-mapping is a possible tool for the investigation of a cardiac involvement in SLE patients and should be investigated in clinical studies.