title: Delayed enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is a poor prognostic factor in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Predictors of ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) remain unclear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examined 61 consecutive CS patients who were admitted to our hospital from April 2002 to March 2012 with a mean follow-up period of 45 ± 31 months for the relationship between delayed enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI) and VA or a composite endpoint, including VA, heart failure hospitalization, and cardiovascular mortality. Although there was no significant difference in baseline clinical characteristics between patients with VA and those without it, the former group was characterized as compared with the latter by lower left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (p<0.05), larger LV systolic/diastolic dimensions (both p<0.05), and a significant association with DE-MRI (p<0.05). Furthermore, the patients with DE-MRI (n=26), as compared with those without it (n=11), had a significantly higher composite endpoint event rate (41% vs. 0%, p<0.05) and a trend toward higher VA (29% vs. 0%, p=0.12). Univariate analysis also showed that impaired LV systolic function was significantly associated with composite events on follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that the presence of DE-MRI is a significant predictor of VA events and poor outcome in CS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Mohamed Abdel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shafee
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wakayama
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Masateru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Yuhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hasebe
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawana
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimokawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013997:Time Factors; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology