Myocardial tissue characteriation with native myocardial T1 mapping in SLE patients with chest pain

Background Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients often exhibit signs and symptoms of cardiac ischemia with an overall increased prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD), coronary microvascular dysfunction and myocarditis in this population. Potentially, these processes may be associated with subclinical changes in myocardial tissue. Elevated native myocardial T1 and extracellular volume (ECV), measures of myocardial fibrosis, have previously been shown in asymptomatic SLE patients, implying subclinical myocardial disease. We assessed the hypothesis that native myocardial T1 and ECV would be abnormally elevated in SLE subjects with chest pain.