# Quantitative assessment of left ventricular myocardial involvement in patients with connective tissue disease: a 3.0T contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance study

## TL;DR

This study uses advanced heart imaging to show that patients with connective tissue diseases have reduced heart muscle function and blood flow, with more severe effects in non-IIM patients.

## Contribution

The study introduces a quantitative CMR approach to assess myocardial involvement in CTD patients, revealing distinct differences between IIM and non-IIM subtypes.

## Key findings

- CTD patients showed significantly reduced LV global myocardial deformation and microvascular perfusion compared to healthy controls.
- Non-IIM patients exhibited lower LV global strain and longer time to maximum signal intensity compared to IIM patients.
- Late gadolinium enhancement was independently associated with global radial and circumferential peak strain in CTD patients.

## Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) myocardial involvement in connective tissue disease (CTD) patients using multiparemetric imaging derived from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). CMR was performed on 146 CTD patients (comprising of 74 with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) and 72 with non-IIM) and 72 healthy controls and included measures of LV global strains [including peak strain (PS), peak systolic (PSSR) and diastolic strain rate (PDSR)], myocardial perfusion [including upslope, max signal intensity (MaxSI), and time to maximum signal intensity (TTM)], and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) parameters. Univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to determine the association between LV deformation and microvascular perfusion, as well as LGE. Our results indicated that CTD patients had decreased global longitudinal PS (GLPS), PSSR, PDSR, and myocardial perfusion (all p < 0.017) compared with normal controls. Non-IIM patients exhibited lower LV global strain and longer TTM than IIM patients. The presence of LGE was independently associated with global radial PS (GRPS: β = − 0.165, p = 0.011) and global circumferential PS (GCPS: β =  − 0.122, p = 0.022). TTM was independently correlated with GLPS (β = − 0.156, p = 0.027). GLPS was the best indicator for differentiating CTD patients from normal controls (area under curve of 0.78). This study indicated that CTD patients showed impaired LV global myocardial deformation and microvascular perfusion, and presence of LGE. Cardiac involvement might be more severe in non-IIM patients than in IIM patients. Impaired microvascular perfusion and the presence of LGE were independently associated with LV global deformation.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10554-022-02539-6.