Superiority of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging over echocardiography in early detection of subclinical cardiac abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become increasingly recognized as a cause of mortality, especially in patients with long-standing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Aim of the work: To detect subclinical cardiac involvement and its relation to clinical characteristics, disease activity and damage. Patients and methods: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed in 36 SLE patients. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) sections were obtained. T1-weighted inversion recovery scout images were obtained after injection of gadolinium. Results: Thirty-six patients were included with a mean age of 32.4 ± 8.5 years; 35 females and 1 male; with disease duration of 7.9 ± 5 years. The frequent cardiac presentations on TTE were tricuspid regurgitation (TR) (41.6%), mitral regurgitation (MR) (36.1%), mitral thickening (25%), early diastolic mitral flow/mitral flow during atrial contraction (E/A)