Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jun;38(6):949-958.
doi: 10.1007/s00296-018-4004-6. Epub 2018 Mar 7.

Can cardiovascular magnetic resonance prompt early cardiovascular/rheumatic treatment in autoimmune rheumatic diseases? Current practice and future perspectives

Sophie I Mavrogeni  1 , Petros P Sfikakis  2 , Theodoros Dimitroulas  3 , Loukia Koutsogeorgopoulou  4 , Gikas Katsifis  5 , George Markousis-Mavrogenis  6 , Genovefa Kolovou  6 , George D Kitas  7
Affiliations
Review

Can cardiovascular magnetic resonance prompt early cardiovascular/rheumatic treatment in autoimmune rheumatic diseases? Current practice and future perspectives

Sophie I Mavrogeni et al. Rheumatol Int. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Life expectancy in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) remains lower compared to the general population, due to various comoborbidities. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the main contributor to premature mortality. Conventional and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have considerably improved long-term outcomes in ARDs not only by suppressing systemic inflammation but also by lowering CVD burden. Regarding atherosclerotic disease prevention, EULAR has recommended tight disease control accompanied by regular assessment of traditional CVD risk factors and lifestyle changes. However, this approach, although rational and evidence-based, does not account for important issues such as myocardial inflammation and the long asymptomatic period that usually proceeds clinical manifestations of CVD disease in ARDs before or after the diagnosis of systemic disease. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) can offer reliable, reproducible and operator independent information regarding myocardial inflammation, ischemia and fibrosis. Some studies suggest a role for CMR in the risk stratification of ARDs and demonstrate that oedema/fibrosis visualisation with CMR may have the potential to inform cardiac and rheumatic treatment modification in ARDs with or without abnormal routine cardiac evaluation. In this review, we discuss how CMR findings could influence anti-rheumatic treatment decisions targeting optimal control of both systemic and myocardial inflammation irrespective of clinical manifestations of cardiac disease. CMR can provide a different approach that is very promising for risk stratification and treatment modification; however, further studies are needed before the inclusion of CMR in the routine evaluation and treatment of patients with ARDs.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging; Rheumatic diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Oct;54(10):3306-9 - PubMed
    1. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2014 Feb;43(4):526-35 - PubMed
    1. Rheumatol Int. 2011 Nov;31(11):1409-17 - PubMed
    1. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2013 Aug;43(1):48-54 - PubMed
    1. Curr Pharm Des. 2014;20(4):536-44 - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources