Combined brain and heart magnetic resonance imaging in systemic vasculitides: fiction or real need?

Combined brain and heart magnetic resonance imaging in systemic vasculitides: fiction or real need? Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2018 Apr 10; Authors: Mavrogeni SI, Kitas G, Lamb HJ, Psychoyios K, Dimitroulas T, Koutsogeorgopoulou L, Boki K, Vartela V, Kolovou G, Markousis-Mavrogenis G, Kallenberg CG, Guillevin L, Vassilopoulos D Abstract Systemic vasculitides (SVs) is a group of diseases characterised by inflammation/necrosis of the blood vessel wall in various organs. Simultaneous brain and heart involvement is a cause of increased morbidity/mortality in SV. We aimed to present evidence of concurrent brain/heart involvement in SV and the role of a combined brain/heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in their risk stratification. Cerebral vasculitis (CV) can be presented as focal deficits, seizures, headache, neuropsychiatric manifestations or cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular disease (CVD) as myocardial/vascular inflammation, perfusion/function defects and fibrosis. MRI is a non-invasive, non-radiating technique that allows the reliable identification of intraparenchymal brain lesions and the detection of myocardial/vascular inflammation and fibrosis. However, its use in SV is currently hampered by high cost, lack of availability/expertise and lack of awareness among the clinicians. Although there are no clinical data supporting the combined use of brain/heart MRI in asymptomatic SV, it would be called for in cases with clinical sus...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Clin Exp Rheumatol Source Type: research