Diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis: an era of paradigm shift

Ann Nucl Med. 2020 Feb;34(2):87-93. doi: 10.1007/s12149-019-01431-z. Epub 2019 Dec 17.

Abstract

Cardiac sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease that may affect any organ, including the heart. Diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis is challenging, given the varied and non-specific clinical presentation and limited sensitivity and specificity of available diagnostic tests. With the growing interest and developments in imaging techniques, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and positron emission tomography (PET) have emerged as important tools in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis. These modalities have been given increasing emphasis in successive published diagnostic guidelines for CS. This review will provide an update on the recent paradigm shift in diagnostic guidelines for cardiac sarcoidosis, with a focus on the advanced cardiac imaging modalities and their developed role in clinical practice.

Keywords: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; Cardiac sarcoidosis; Diagnostic guidelines; Echocardiography; Fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cardiomyopathies / diagnostic imaging*
  • Guidelines as Topic
  • Heart
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Multimodal Imaging / methods
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sarcoidosis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods