Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are used to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis. The most recent recommendations for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation in these patients are in the 2017 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Rhythm Society Guideline for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death. These recommendations, based on observational studies or expert opinion, have not been assessed. We aimed to assess them. Methods: We performed a large retrospective cohort study of patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis and known or suspected cardiac sarcoidosis that underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were followed for a composite end point of significant ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death. The discriminatory performance of the Guideline recommendations was tested using time-dependent receiver operating characteristic analyses. The optimal cutoff for the extent of late gadolinium enhancement predictive of the composite end point was determined using the Youden index. Results: In 290 patients, the class I and IIa recommendations identified all patients who experienced the composite end point during a median follow-up of 3.0 years. Patients meeting class I recommendations had a significantly higher incidence of the composite end point than those meeting class IIa recommendations. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >35% with >5.7% late gadolinium enhancement on cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging was as sensitive as and significantly more specific than LVEF >35% with any late gadolinium enhancement. Patients meeting 2 class IIa recommendations, LVEF >35% with the need for a permanent pacemaker and LVEF >35% with late gadolinium enhancement >5.7%, had high annualized event rates. Excluding 2 class IIa recommendations, LVEF >35% with syncope and LVEF >35% with inducible ventricular arrhythmia, resulted in improved discrimination for the composite end point. Conclusions: We assessed the Guideline recommendations for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation in patients with known or suspected cardiac sarcoidosis and identified topics for future research.
Background: Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is more sensitive than echocardiography for the detection of intracardiac thrombus because of its unique ability to identify thrombus based on tissue characteristics related to avascularity. The long-term prognostic significance of left ventricular (LV) thrombus detected by LGE CMR is unknown. Methods: We performed a matched cohort study of consecutive adult patients with LV thrombus detected by LGE CMR who were matched on the date of CMR, age, and LV ejection fraction to up to 3 patients without LV thrombus. We investigated the long-term incidence of a composite of embolic events: stroke, transient ischemic attack, or extracranial systemic arterial embolism. We also compared outcomes among patients with LV thrombus detected by LGE CMR stratified by whether the LV thrombus was also detected by echocardiography or not. Results: Of 157 LV thrombus patients, 155 were matched to 400 non-LV thrombus patients. During a median follow-up of 3.3 years, the cumulative incidence of embolism was significantly higher in LV thrombus patients compared with the matched non-LV thrombus patients ( P <0.001), with annualized rates of 3.7% and 0.8% for LV thrombus and matched non-LV thrombus patients, respectively. LV thrombus was the only independent predictor of the composite embolic end point (hazard ratio, 3.99 [95% CI, 1.54–10.35]; P =0.004). The cumulative incidence of embolism was not different in patients with LV thrombus that was also detected by echocardiography versus patients with LV thrombus not detected by echocardiography ( P =0.25). Conclusions: Despite contemporary antithrombotic treatment, LV thrombus detected by LGE CMR is associated with a 4-fold higher long-term incidence of embolism compared with matched non-LV thrombus patients. LV thrombus detected by LGE CMR but not by echocardiography is associated with a similar risk of embolism as that detected by both LGE CMR and echocardiography.
Background In patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis, late gadolinium enhancement on cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and/or 18 F‐fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography are often used to reach a clinical diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis. On the basis of data from the imaging literature of clinical cardiac sarcoidosis, no specific features of myocardial involvement are regarded as pathognomonic for cardiac sarcoidosis. Thus, a diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis is challenging to make. There has been no systematic analysis of histologically diagnosed cardiac sarcoidosis for patterns of myocardial involvement. We hypothesized that certain patterns of myocardial involvement are more frequent in histologically diagnosed cardiac sarcoidosis. Methods and Results We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of gross pathological images from the published literature of patients with histologically diagnosed cardiac sarcoidosis who underwent autopsy or cardiac transplantation. Thirty‐three eligible articles provided images of 49 unique hearts. Analysis of these hearts revealed certain features of myocardial involvement in >90% of cases: left ventricular (LV) subepicardial, LV multifocal, septal, and right ventricular free wall involvement. In contrast, other patterns were seen in 0% to 6% of cases: absence of gross LV myocardial involvement, isolated LV midmyocardial involvement, isolated LV subendocardial involvement, isolated LV transmural involvement, absence of septal involvement, or isolated involvement of only one LV level. Conclusions In this systematic review and meta‐analysis of histologically diagnosed cardiac sarcoidosis, we identified certain features of myocardial involvement that occurred frequently and others that occurred rarely or never. These patterns could aid the interpretation of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography imaging and improve the diagnosis and the prognostication of patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis.
BackgroundThere is a critical need for non-invasive methods to detect coronary allograft vasculopathy and to risk stratify heart transplant recipients. Vasodilator stress testing using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is a promising technique for this purpose. We aimed to evaluate the safety and the prognostic value of regadenoson stress CMR in heart transplant recipients.MethodsTo evaluate the safety, we assessed adverse effects in a retrospective matched cohort study of consecutive heart transplant recipients who underwent regadenoson stress CMR matched in a 2:1 ratio to age- and gender-matched non-heart transplant patients. To evaluate the prognostic value, we compared the outcomes of patients with abnormal vs. normal regadenoson stress CMRs using a composite endpoint of myocardial infarction, percutaneous intervention, cardiac hospitalization, retransplantation or death.ResultsFor the safety analysis, 234 regadenoson stress CMR studies were included - 78 performed in 57 heart transplant recipients and 156 performed in non-heart transplant patients. Those in heart transplant recipients were performed at a median of 2.74 years after transplantation. Thirty-four (44%) CMR studies were performed in the first two years after heart transplantation. There were no differences in the rates of adverse effects between heart transplant recipients and non-heart transplant patients. To study the prognostic value of regadenoson stress CMRs, 20 heart transplant recipients with abnormal regadenoson stress CMRs were compared to 37 with normal regadenoson stress CMRs. An abnormal regadenoson stress CMR was associated with a significantly higher incidence of the composite endpoint compared with a normal regadenoson stress CMR (3-year cumulative incidence estimates of 32.1% vs. 12.7%, p = 0.034).ConclusionsRegadenoson stress CMR is safe and well tolerated in heart transplant recipients, with no incidence of sinus node dysfunction or high-degree atrioventricular block, including in the first two years after heart transplantation. An abnormal regadenoson stress CMR identifies heart transplant recipients at a higher risk for major adverse cardiovascular events.
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