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Abstract #3562

Cardiac Torsion and Strain in Fatigued Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Patients Investigated by 3T Cardiac Tagging Show Evidence of Accelerated Ageing Processes

Kieren Grant Hollingsworth1, David Emerys Jones2, Roy Taylor1, Guy A. MacGowan3, Julia Lindsay Newton4, Andrew Mark Blamire1

1Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom; 2Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom; 3Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom; 4Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom


Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune liver disease affecting females from middle age. After our previous observation that PBC patients have impaired cardiac energetics compared to matched controls while preserving normal cardiac morphology, the same cohort was studied with cardiac tagging at 3T to assess cardiac torsion and strain. Those PBC patients with severe fatigue were found to have significant increases in myocardial peak torsion and reduction in peak strain which have previously been seen to be typical of healthy ageing. This suggests that cardiac changes in fatigued PBC patients may reflect an accelerated ageing process.