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Background. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) primarily affects the left ventricle (LV) sparing the right ventricle (RV) in vast majority of cases. However, several studies employing CMR have revealed that myocardial hypertrophy may also involve the RV.Aim of the study. To assess RV size and function in a large prospectively cohort of HCM patients and to evaluate whether these parameters in association with other MR findings can predict cardiac eventsMethods. Two participating centers prospectively included patients with known or suspected HCM between 2011 and 2017. CMR studies were performed with three different scanners. Outcome measures were a composite of ventricular arrhythmias, hospitalization for HF and cardiac death.Results. Of 607 consecutive patients with known or suspected HCM, 315 had complete follow-up information (mean 65 ± 20 months). Among them, 115 patients developed major cardiac events (MACE) during follow-up. At CMR evaluation, patients with events had higher left atrium (LA) diameter (41.5 ± 8 mm vs. 37.17 ± 7.6 mm, p Conclusions Anatomic and functional RV anomalies detected and characterized with CMR may have may have a major role in predicting the prognosis of HCM patients.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a severe connective tissue disease characterized by diffuse vascular damage and aberrant activation of immune system, resulting in inflammation and fibrosis of skin and internal organs, including the heart. Cardiac involvement is frequent in SSc, even though often unrecognized due to the occult nature at early stages and to the lack of a defined diagnostic algorithm. Once clinically evident, heart involvement is associated with a poor prognosis, representing the leading cause of death in about one third of SSc patients. Thus, its early recognition and monitoring are of crucial importance to allow a prompt therapeutic intervention and to improve patients' outcomes. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is a non-invasive, non-radiating imaging technique of great importance for the assessment of cardiovascular system, and represents the modality of choice for the morpho-functional and structural characterization of the heart. In SSc, CMR allows a precise definition of biventricular and biatrial size and function, and a detailed tissue characterization. CMR has been therefore extensively proposed in SSc as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to characterize heart involvement, particularly myocardial involvement. In this review, we summarize the most recent evidences to support the use of CMR in SSc as an important tool to recognize and characterize scleroderma heart disease. Furthermore, the unmet needs and the future perspectives of a CMR-based approach for the early detection of SSc heart involvement are discussed.