[Value of MRI for the diagnosis of cardiac involvement in sarcoidosis].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to assess the place of cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in patients with sarcoidosis with or without cardiac involvement.


METHODS
Fifty patients with histologically-proven sarcoidosis underwent initial cardiac evaluation including MRI, ECG, holter ECG, echocardiography. Seven of them had cardiac involvement (cardiac insufficiency, auriculo-ventricular block, bundle-branch block). Fiveteen patients had a second evaluation at 10-month follow-up. MRI was classified in three stages, on the base of literature data (stage 1 "granulomatous", stage 2 "exsudative", stage 3 "fibrotic").


RESULTS
A good correlation between the type of the sarcoidosis and MRI was observed: patients with cardiac involvement had all stage 2 MRI; patients with quiescent sarcoidosis had normal or stage 3 MRI; patients without cardiac involvement had all stages on MRI. A good correlation was observed between cardiac MRI abnormalities and evolution of sarcoidosis. Patients under corticoid, with or without cardiac involvement all had regression of MRI lesions and sarcoidosis. In 2 cases, MRI was predictive of clinical cardiac involvement.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac MRI is a useful non-invasive method for the early diagnosis and follow-up of cardiac sarcoidosis.
Dhôte
R
R
Services de médecine interne, hôpital Cochin, 27, rue du faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014, Paris, France. robin.dhote@cch.ap-hop-paris.fr <robin.dhote@cch.ap-hop-paris.fr>
Vignaux
O
O
Blanche
P
P
Duboc
D
D
Dusser
D
D
Brezin
A
A
Devaux
J-Y
JY
Christoforov
B
B
Legmann
P
P
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones