Novel Imaging Approaches to Cardiac Manifestations of Systemic Inflammatory Diseases

Derangements in the innate and adaptive immune responses observed in systemic inflammatory syndromes contributes to unique elevated atherosclerotic risk and incident cardiovascular disease. Novel multimodality imaging techniques may improve diagnostic precision for the screening and monitoring of disease activity. The integrated application of these technologies lead to earlier diagnosis and noninvasive monitoring of cardiac involvement in systemic inflammatory diseases that will aid in preclinical studies, enhance patient selection, and provide surrogate endpoints in clinical trials, thereby improving clinical outcomes. We review the common cardiovascular manifestations of immune-mediated systemic inflammatory diseases and address the clinical and investigational role of advanced multimodality cardiac imaging.

Automated summary

Derangements in immune responses in systemic inflammatory syndromes contribute to increased risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Novel multimodality imaging techniques can improve diagnostic precision and disease activity monitoring. The integrated use of these technologies aids in early diagnosis and noninvasive monitoring of cardiac involvement, playing important roles in preclinical studies, patient selection, and clinical trials, thereby improving clinical outcomes.