Key result
Malignant arrhythmia is linked to ~3-fold higher 3-month MACE risk versus non-malignant patients.
Why the study?
Malignant arrhythmia complicating fulminant myocarditis carries high in-hospital mortality, but evidence on long-term prognosis and specific risk factors is limited.
Does malignant arrhythmia increase major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with fulminant myocarditis?
Does malignant arrhythmia increase major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with fulminant myocarditis?
Malignant arrhythmia complicating fulminant myocarditis is an independent predictor of short-term MACE, with distinct risk factors identified for tachyarrhythmia and bradyarrhythmia subtypes.
Malignant arrhythmia signals higher short-term MACE risk in fulminant myocarditis but should not yet change practice; leaves open causal role and intervention targets.
(1) Background: Malignant arrhythmia complicating fulminant myocarditis is associated with high in-hospital mortality, but evidence regarding its long-term prognosis and specific risk factors is limited. (2) Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study (2016–2025) analyzed 241 consecutive fulminant myocarditis patients, stratified by malignant arrhythmia status (n = 58 vs. 183). The malignant arrhythmia group was further subclassified into malignant tachyarrhythmia (n = 22) and bradyarrhythmia (n = 36). Endpoints included major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), cardiac dysfunction, and structural abnormalities. (3) Results: At 3-month follow-up, malignant arrhythmia patients had a significantly higher incidence of MACE compared to non-malignant arrhythmia patients (15.5% vs. 4.9%, p = 0.008), but no significant differences were found in cardiac dysfunction or structural abnormalities. Multivariate analysis identified low triglyceride level as an independent risk factor for in-hospital malignant tachyarrhythmia. For in-hospital malignant bradyarrhythmia, independent risk factors were delayed, such as intrinsicoid deflection, low diastolic blood pressure, bradycardia, and an elevated E/Em ratio, with the predictive model showing high discriminatory power. (4) Conclusions: Malignant arrhythmia is an independent predictor of adverse short-term, but not long-term, prognosis in fulminant myocarditis patients, with distinct risk factor profiles identified for malignant tachyarrhythmia and malignant bradyarrhythmia subtypes.
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Wang et al. (2025) studied this question. Malignant arrhythmia patients showed a higher incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (15.5% vs. 4.9%, p = 0.008) at 3 months compared to non-malignant patients.
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