Case report: role of cardiac MRI in the diagnosis of myocarditis

Abstract

Diagnosis of myocarditis remains one of the most difficult clinical problems in cardiology. In connection with the coronavirus infection COVID-19 caused by the acute respiratory virus SARS-CoV-2, non-invasive diagnosis of myocarditis is an urgent task. The most informative method for diagnosing myocarditis is magnetic resonance imaging [1,2]. The arsenal of MRI includes a number of pulse sequences that make it possible to identify and evaluate the process of inflammation in its various phases. Various pulse sequences (T2-weighted images or T2-mapping, delayed contrast, T1-mapping) allow not only to diagnose the disease, but also to determine the stages of damage. The ability of MRI to differentiate ischemic and non-ischemic lesions [3] is used in emergency cardiology for various myocardial injuries. The peculiarity of this clinical case is the use of MRI diagnostics in a patient with a typical clinical picture of acute coronary syndrome in the emergency department of cardiology. The data of the contrast MRI of the heart allowed the patient to make the correct diagnosis.