title: Modern Imaging of Myocarditis: Possibilities and Challenges
abstract: Myocarditis is known as the chameleon of cardiac diseases. The symptoms and the course of disease vary greatly so that it is often challenging to establish a diagnosis. Early and accurate diagnosis is of utmost importance, since myocarditis is one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac death in young adults and represents an important precursor to dilated cardiomyopathy. Due to the constraints of the routinely used diagnostic approach, including clinical history and examination, laboratory testing, and electrocardiogram, different imaging modalities have emerged over the last decades as contributors to the noninvasive diagnosis of myocarditis. With this interdisciplinary review we would like to present the current state-of-the-art imaging of myocarditis across all available imaging modalities (i. e., echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, cardiac computed tomography, and nuclear medicine). Furthermore, we present novel imaging techniques that might become useful in the near future for easier and more accurate diagnosis of this highly relevant disease.
  
  
  
  • Different imaging modalities are increasingly used in the diagnostic workup of myocarditis.
  
  • Several emerging imaging techniques are currently on the way to becoming part of the clinical routine.
  
  • This review summarizes the diagnostic value of echocardiography, CMR, CT, and nuclear medicine imaging.
  
  • There is special focus on the possibilities and challenges of novel imaging tools within the different modalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baeßler
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Herzzentrum Leipzig GmbH - University Clinic, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lücke
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology, Herzzentrum Leipzig GmbH Universitatsklinik, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blazek
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, Universite Paris Diderot, Paris, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maintz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bunck
mesh_terms: D057791:Cardiac Imaging Techniques / Q000639:trends*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000639:trends*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000639:trends*; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000639:trends; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000639:trends*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000639:trends*