Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance 2022 Cases of SCMR case series.

"Cases of SCMR" is a case series on the SCMR website (https://www.scmr.org) for the purpose of education. The cases reflect the clinical presentation, and the use of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. The 2022 digital collection of cases are presented in this manuscript.

The toxic tango: TKI and TCI cardiotoxicities.

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are effective for several types of cancers, but they can have several cardiotoxicity sides effects. We present a case of TKI-ICI toxicity resulting in multiorgan inflammatory syndrome with myocarditis and thrombotic STEMI that were successfully treated with high-dose steroids and PCI. CASE PRESENTATION: Seventy-two year-old man patient treated with on pembrolizumab 200 mg IV every 3 weeks and Axitinib 5 mg PO q12h for the past 5 months complained of acute shortness of breath, altered mental status, and chronic diarrhea. Coronary angiography demonstrated a thrombotic lesion in the right coronary artery (RCA) that was treated successfully with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite PCI he continued to complain of shortness of breath further workup with Cardiac MRI (CMR) was obtained showed an ejection fraction of 38%, small pericardial effusion, and delayed gadolinium enhancement (DGE) in the inferior wall suggestive of myocarditis. An empirical trial of high-dose steroids improved all patient symptoms and ejection fraction; therefore, the chemotherapy regimen was changed. CONCLUSION: This case report highlights the potential vasculogenic effects of Axitinib and immune-related myocarditis of pembrolizumab. Cardiologists and oncologists should be vigilant for the cardiotoxic effects of Axitinib and pembrolizumab.

Mild hypothermia delays the development of stone heart from untreated sustained ventricular fibrillation--a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

BACKGROUND: 'Stone heart' resulting from ischemic contracture of the myocardium, precludes successful resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation (VF). We hypothesized that mild hypothermia might slow the progression to stone heart. METHODS: Fourteen swine (27 ± 1 kg) were randomized to normothermia (group I; n=6) or hypothermia groups (group II; n=8). Mild hypothermia (34 ± 2 °C) was induced with ice packs prior to VF induction. The LV and right ventricular (RV) cross-sectional areas were followed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance until the development of stone heart. A commercial 1.5T GE Signa NV-CV/i scanner was used. Complete anatomic coverage of the heart was acquired using a steady-state free precession (SSFP) pulse sequence gated at baseline prior to VF onset. Un-gated SSFP images were obtained serially after VF induction. The ventricular endocardium was manually traced and LV and RV volumes were calculated at each time point. RESULTS: In group I, the LV was dilated compared to baseline at 5 minutes after VF and this remained for 20 minutes. Stone heart, arbitrarily defined as LV volume <1/3 of baseline at the onset of VF, occurred at 29 ± 3 minutes. In group II, there was less early dilation of the LV (p<0.05) and the development of stone heart was delayed to 52 ± 4 minutes after onset of VF (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this closed-chest swine model of prolonged untreated VF, hypothermia reduced the early LV dilatation and importantly, delayed the onset of stone heart thereby extending a known, morphologic limit of resuscitability.