A case of longitudinal care of a patient with cardiac sarcoidosis

J Nucl Cardiol. 2018 Apr;25(2):443-456. doi: 10.1007/s12350-018-1217-8. Epub 2018 Feb 8.

Abstract

Cardiac sarcoidosis has long been an evasive diagnosis with a spectrum of clinical presentations that extend from asymptomatic to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The diagnosis has traditionally relied on histology which suffers from the low sensitivity of endomyocardial biopsy due to the patchy nature of the disease in addition to its invasive nature. Due to significant advancements in imaging, it is now possible to accurately identify cardiac sarcoidosis using non-invasive imaging modalities even without histological confirmation. Emerging guidelines are highlighting the role of multimodality imaging in the diagnosis and management of this challenging entity. We present the case of a 36-year-old man known to have sarcoidosis in which a variety of imaging modalities not only assisted in the diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis, but also played a key role in the monitoring of disease activity and response to therapy.

Keywords: Diagnostic and prognostic applications; Inflammation; Magnetic resonance imaging; PET/CT imaging; Radiopharmaceuticals.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biopsy
  • Cardiomyopathies / diagnosis*
  • Cardiomyopathies / therapy
  • Echocardiography
  • Electrocardiography
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
  • Humans
  • Lymphadenopathy / diagnostic imaging
  • Male
  • Multimodal Imaging
  • Myocardial Perfusion Imaging
  • Myocardium / pathology
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic
  • Radiography, Thoracic
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Sarcoidosis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Sarcoidosis / therapy
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18