Myocardial Delayed Enhancement by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients With Muscular Dystrophy

Myocardial Delayed Enhancement by MRI in Patients With Muscular Dystrophy Marly Conceição Silva, Zilda Maria Alves Meira, Juliana Gurgel Giannetti, Marcelo Moreira da Silva, Alysson Félix Oliveira Campos, Márcia de Melo Barbosa, Geraldo Moll Starling Filho, Rogério de Aguiar Ferreira, Mayana Zatz, Carlos Eduardo Rochitte Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that involves skeletal and cardiac tissues of humans. We tested whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance can detect myocardial damage in the early stages of muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy. Ten patients with Duchenne or Becker dystrophies were studied. Myocardial fibrosis was observed in 7 patients, even when left ventricular function was preserved by echocardiography. Patients with myocardial fibrosis had a lower ejection fraction. The lateral wall was most commonly involved, with moderate correlation between segmental fibrosis and dysfunction. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance can identify myocardial fibrosis and may be useful in the early stages of cardiomyopathy in muscular dystrophy.