Impact of myocardial injury on regional left ventricular function in the course of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction: insights from segmental feature tracking strain analysis using cine cardiac MRI

The aim of this study was to provide insights into myocardial adaptation over time in myocyte injury caused by acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction. The effect of myocardial injury, as defined by the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), on the change of left ventricular (LV) segmental strain parameters was evaluated in a longitudinal analysis. Patients with a first episode of acute myocarditis were enrolled retrospectively. Peak radial (PRS), longitudinal (PLS) and circumferential (PCS) LV segmental strain values at baseline and at follow-up were computed using feature tracking cine cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. The change of segmental strain values in LGE positive (LGE+) and LGE negative (LGE-) segments was compared over a course of 89 ± 20 days. In 24 patients, 100 LGE+ segments and 284 LGE- segments were analysed. Between LGE+ and LGE- segments, significant differences were found for the change of segmental PCS (p < 0.001) and segmental PRS (p = 0.006). LGE + segments showed an increase in contractility, indicating recovery, and LGE- segments showed a decrease in contractility, indicating normalisation after a hypercontractile state or impairment of an initially normal contracting segment. No significant difference between LGE+ and LGE- segments was found for the change in segmental PLS. In the course of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction, regional myocardial function adapts inversely in segments with and without LGE. As these effects seem to counterbalance each other, global functional parameters might be of limited use in monitoring functional recovery of these patients.