Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
OBJECTIVE
To delineate the cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) appearances of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in comparison with transthoracic echocardiographs.


METHODS
Cardiac MR was performed on 22 patients with SLE-11 with previous CVD and 11 matched controls-using late gadolinium contrast enhancement (LGE) to identify areas of myocardial scarring; Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed on the same day.


RESULTS
Twenty female and two male patients participated. LGE was seen in 5/11 subjects in the CVD group (4/5 with previous myocardial infarction) and 1/11 in the control group. TTE detected myocardial abnormalities in 2/6 patients with LGE.


CONCLUSIONS
The cardiac MR appearance of CVD in these patients with SLE was suggestive of coronary disease, rather than cumulative inflammatory muscle damage. Cardiac MR detected more abnormalities than TTE. Further studies of cardiac MR in patients with SLE are warranted to investigate these preliminary findings.
O'Neill
S G
SG
Centre for Rheumatology Research, Department of Medicine UCL, London W1T 4JF, UK.
Woldman
S
S
Bailliard
F
F
Norman
W
W
McEwan
J
J
Isenberg
D A
DA
Taylor
A M
AM
Rahman
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D014463:Ultrasonography