Myocardial fibrosis detected with gadolinium delayed enhancement in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is related with arterioventricular coupling alterations in patients with acute myocarditis
Background Delayed Gandolinium Myocardium Enhancement (DE) extent on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is significantly correlated to biomarkers of myocardial injury in patients with acute viral myocarditis, and is a significant independent predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcome. Arterial Venrticular Coupling (VAC) is related to the efficiency of mechanical energy transfer from the heart to the arteries, and it has been expressed by means of the ratio of effective arterial elastance (Ea) to end-systolic elastance (Ees), which is relatively independent of loading conditions. In this work we aimed to evaluate alterations in Ees, Ea and VAC indices in relation with DE in patients with acute myocarditis.