The role of late gadolinium enhancement in predicting arrhythmic events in cardiac sarcoidosis patients – a mini-review

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem inflammatory disorder with an unknown origin. Symptomatic cardiac involvement is rare and occurs in about 5% of patients with sarcoidosis. Fatal ventricular arrhythmias are the most severe clinical presentation of the disease. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a useful non-invasive tool for the risk stratification of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). More specifically, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), a CMR tool for scar detection, has been found to be significantly associated with arrhythmic events in CS patients. This review aims to present the existing evidence regarding the association of LGE with adverse events and especially with fatal ventricular arrhythmias.

Keywords:

• Cardiac magnetic resonance
• late gadolinium enhancement
• cardiac sarcoidosis
• ventricular arrhythmias
• sudden cardiac death

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.