Detecting Cardiac Involvement in Systemic Sarcoidosis Using a Multi-Contrast Late-Enhancement MRI Technique: Preliminary Results

Yuesong Yang¹, Kim Connelly¹, Jay Detsky¹, Sumaya Al-helali¹, Gideon Paul¹, Rhonda Walcarius¹, Graham A. Wright¹, Alexander J. Dick¹

Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease with a predilection for pulmonary involvement. Although clinical cardiac involvement occurs only in 5-7% of patients with systemic sarcoidosis, the incidence of autopsy-proven disease ranges from 20% to 47%. The presence of cardiac involvement is important to recognize, as it can lead to conduction disturbance and ventricular arrhythmias. Early detection of cardiac involvement with suitable treatment plays a critical role in the prevention of sudden death in these patients. A newly developed multi-contrast late-enhancement (MCLE) MRI has shown the potential to identify subtle myocardial damages in myocardial infarction. In this study we investigated this MCLE technique in the determination of cardiac involvement in systemic sarcoidosis and compared it with conventional IR-FGRE imaging.