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Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Noninvasive Assessment of Cardiac Abnormalities in Experimental Autoimmune Myocarditis by Magnetic Resonance Microscopy Imaging in the Mouse
Published on: June 20, 2014
Cardiac imaging techniques in systemic autoimmune diseases
M Turiel1, R Peretti, P Sarzi-Puttini
1Department of Cardiology, Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. maurizio.turiel@unimi.it
Insights
Systemic autoimmune disorders significantly increase the risk of premature coronary artery disease and stroke. Echocardiography is crucial for detecting cardiac issues, aiding early diagnosis and management in these patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Rheumatology
- Immunology
Background:
- Systemic autoimmune disorders are linked to increased cardiac involvement and premature ischemic coronary events.
- Coronary artery disease and stroke contribute significantly to mortality in patients with connective tissue diseases.
- Rheumatoid arthritis patients have a high mortality rate due to coronary heart disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role of echocardiography and other imaging modalities in assessing cardiac involvement in systemic autoimmune disorders.
- To highlight the prevalence and impact of premature atherosclerosis in these patient populations.
- To discuss the diagnostic capabilities for detecting coronary microvasculature dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Review of echocardiography (transesophageal and transthoracic) for detecting valvular abnormalities, pulmonary hypertension, and left ventricular dysfunction.
- Evaluation of coronary flow reserve using transthoracic echocardiography.
- Discussion of advanced imaging techniques including cardiac catheterization, magnetic resonance, and computerized tomography angiography for coronary artery imaging.
Main Results:
- Echocardiography is a key noninvasive tool for assessing cardiac abnormalities in systemic autoimmune diseases.
- Transthoracic echocardiography can evaluate coronary flow reserve to detect microvasculature disorders.
- Further evaluation with cardiac catheterization is often necessary for symptomatic patients with suspected ischemic response.
- Advanced imaging modalities provide detailed visualization of coronary artery lesions.
Conclusions:
- Echocardiography plays a vital role in the noninvasive assessment of cardiac involvement in systemic autoimmune disorders.
- Early detection of coronary artery disease and microvasculature dysfunction is critical for managing mortality risks.
- Multimodality imaging approaches are essential for comprehensive evaluation and management of cardiovascular complications.
Abstract:
Systemic autoimmune disorders are frequently associated to cardiac involvement and to a high prevalence of ischemic coronary events, often occurring at a younger age than in the normal population. Large increase in mortality is related to premature atherosclerosis with coronary artery disease and stroke in patients with connective tissue diseases. Coronary heart disease is responsible for 40-50% of the deaths of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Transesophageal or transthoracic echocardiography are the most useful and noninvasive techniques able to detect not only valvular abnormalities, embolic sources or pulmonary hypertension, but also left ventricular systolic or diastolic dysfunction. Furthermore, the introduction of new indexes, contrast agents and software increased the accuracy of this technique. It is possible now to evaluate coronary flow reserve by transthoracic echocardiography in patients with systemic autoimmune disease in order to detect microvasculature disorder. However, an ischemic response in a symptomatic patient requires, in most cases, further evaluation with cardiac catheterization. Coronary artery imaging allows confirmation of the presence, extent and position of atheromatous lesions. More recently, other imaging modalities including magnetic resonance and computerized tomography angiography have been developed to allow imaging of the coronary arteries.
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