Evaluation of myocardial fibrosis by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in patient with myotonic dystrophy type 1

Objective: To evaluate myocardial fibrosis by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in the patients with myo-tonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), and compare the value of CMR and ECG. Methods: A total of 14 patients with genetically conformed DM1 were included, and were performed CMR, electrocardiogram and dynamic electrocardiogram. Myocardial fibrosis was defined as presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in CMR. According to the results of ECG and/or dynamic ECG, the patients with DM1 were divided into normal ECG and abnormal ECG groups, and the CMR results were compared between two groups. Results: CMR examination showed that the detection rate of myocardial fibrosis in DM1 patients was 35.7% (5 out of 14). Compared with those without myocardial fibrosis, the patients with myocardial fibrosis had higher left ventricular mass index [(47.1±5.4) g/m2 vs. (40.2±3.4) g/m2, P=0.012)], left ventricular end-systolic volume index [(31.5±5.5) mL/m2 vs. (25.8±2.8) mL/m2, P=0.024)], and left atrial volume index [(43.8±7.1)