Prognostic Relevance of Ischemic Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Apparently Healthy Endurance Athletes: A Follow-up Study Over 5 years.

BACKGROUND: In many cardiac diseases, myocardial scar tissue detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) is a risk factor for cardiac arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. Previous studies in athletes reported an increased risk for cardiac events in this group of ostensibly healthy subjects. However, the currently available longitudinal studies on this topic included fairly old marathon runners with a mean age of 57 ± 6 years or represent a case-control study in athletes with preexisting ventricular arrhythmia. The purpose of this prospective study was to analyze the prognostic relevance of LGE cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in middle-aged endurance athletes without known preexisting cardiac disorders. METHODS: Three-hundred and twelve apparently healthy athletes were prospectively enrolled. Inclusion criteria were a training for a minimum of 10 h per week and regularly participation in competitions. LGE CMR was obtained at baseline in all athletes and presence of LGE was classified visually according to established criteria as ischemic LGE, major or minor non-ischemic LGE or absent LGE. Follow-up consisted of a standardized questionnaire and an additional phone call in case of incomplete data. An event was defined as fatal myocardial infarction, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation or sudden cardiac death (SCD). RESULTS: Complete follow-up was available for 293/312 athletes (94%) including 145 triathletes, 74 marathon runners and 74 cyclists after a median of 5.6 [quartiles 4,3, 6,4] years. Median age was 44 [35, 50] years at study enrollment. Spiroergometry did not reveal heart rhythm disturbances or significant ECG changes in the study population. LGE CMR revealed myocardial scar/focal fibrosis in 80 of 293 athletes (27%) including 7 athletes (2%) with ischemic subendocardial LGE of the left ventricle (LV), 16 athletes (6%) with major non-ischemic LGE of the LV and 57 athletes (19%) with minor non-ischemic LGE. During follow-up, two athletes experienced SCD. One marathon runner died during a training run and one cyclist died suddenly at rest. Both athletes had ischemic LGE of the LV. The event rate for SCD was 0.7% in the entire study population and 28% in the 7 athletes with ischemic LGE (p < 0.001 compared to athletes without LGE). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that athletes with ischemic LGE due to unrecognized myocardial infarction are at increased risk for SCD. Our findings highlight the value of LGE CMR to detect occult ischemic scar in asymptomatic apparently healthy athletes, which is of importance, since current guidelines do not recommend to incorporate routine cardiac imaging in pre-participation screening. Athletes with ischemic myocardial scar should at least consider to refrain from high-level exercise as an individual decision.

Prevalence and pattern of focal and potential diffuse myocardial fibrosis in male and female marathon runners using contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance.

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the prevalence and pattern of focal and potential diffuse myocardial fibrosis detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and extracellular volume (ECV) imaging in male and female marathon runners using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). METHODS: Seventy-four marathon runners were studied including 55 males (44 ± 8 years) and 19 females (36 ± 7 years) and compared to 36 controls with similar age and sex using contrast-enhanced CMR, exercise testing, and blood samples. RESULTS: Contrast-enhanced CMR revealed focal myocardial fibrosis in 8 of 74 runners (11%). The majority of runners were male (7 of 8, 88%). LGE was typically non-ischemic in 7 of 8 runners (88%) and ischemic in one runner. ECV was higher in remote myocardium without LGE in male runners (25.5 ± 2.3%) compared to male controls (24.0 ± 3.0%, p < 0.05), indicating the potential presence of diffuse myocardial fibrosis. LV mass was higher in LGE + males (86 ± 18 g/m2) compared to LGE- males (73 ± 14 g/m2, p < 0.05). Furthermore, LGE + males had lower weight (69 ± 9 vs 77 ± 9 kg, p < 0.05) and shorter best marathon finishing times (3.2 ± 0.3 h) compared to LGE- males (3.6 ± 0.4 h, p < 0.05) suggesting higher training load in these runners to accomplish the marathon in a short time. CONCLUSION: The high frequency of non-ischemic myocardial fibrosis in LGE + male runners can be related to increased LV mass in these runners. Furthermore, a higher training load could explain the higher LV mass and could be one additional cofactor in the genesis of myocardial fibrosis in marathon runners. KEY POINTS: • A high frequency of myocardial fibrosis was found in marathon runners. • Myocardial fibrosis occurred typically in male runners and was typically non-ischemic. • Higher training load could be one cofactor in the genesis of myocardial fibrosis in marathon runners.

Prognosis of early pre-discharge and late left ventricular dilatation by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging after acute myocardial infarction.

To study the long-term prognosis of early pre-discharge and late left ventricular (LV) dilatation in patients with first ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and contemporary medical therapy. Long-term follow-up > 15 years was available in 53 consecutive patients (55 ± 13 years) with first STEMI. Late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) was obtained at baseline 5 ± 3 days and follow-up 8 ± 3 months after STEMI to measure LV function, volumes and infarct size. Early pre-discharge dilatation was defined as increased left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVi) at baseline CMR with > 97 ml/m2 for males and > 90 ml/m2 for females. Late dilatation was defined as initially normal LVEDVi, which increased ≥ 20% at follow-up. Early dilatation was present in 7 patients (13%), whereas late dilatation occurred in 11 patients (21%). Patients with early LV dilatation had highest mortality (57%), whereas patients with late dilatation had similar mortality (27%) compared to patients without dilatation (26%). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that age (P < 0.001), ejection fraction at baseline (P < 0.01) and early dilatation (P < 0.01) were independent predictors of death. Early dilatation qualified as an exclusive independent predictor of long-term mortality after adjustment for age and ejection fraction (P < 0.05, hazard ratio: 2.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.2 to 7.9). Early pre-discharge LV dilatation by CMR enabled strong long-term risk stratification after STEMI. The high mortality of early LV dilatation underscores the clinical importance of this post-infarction complication, which occurred despite PCI and contemporary medical therapy.