Persistent left ventricular dysfunction after acute lymphocytic myocarditis: Frequency and predictors

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 3; p. e0214616
• Main Authors: Merlo, Marco, Ammirati, Enrico, Gentile, Piero, Artico, Jessica, Cannatà, Antonio, Finocchiaro, Gherardo, Barbati, Giulia, Sormani, Paola, Varrenti, Marisa, Perkan, Andrea, Fabris, Enrico, Aleksova, Aneta, Bussani, Rossana, Petrella, Duccio, Cipriani, Manlio, Raineri, Claudia, Frigerio, Maria, Sinagra, Gianfranco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28-03-2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adult; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Cardiology; Cardiomyopathy; Complications and side effects; Confidence intervals; Development and progression; Female; Heart; Heart diseases; Heart failure; Hospital admission and discharge; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Immunosuppressive agents; Inflammation; Laboratories; Lymphocytes - pathology; Male; Medical prognosis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Multivariate analysis; Myocarditis; Myocarditis - complications; Pathology; Patients; Population studies; Prognosis; Research and Analysis Methods; Retrospective Studies; Risk factors; Stroke Volume; Subgroups; Systole; Ventricle; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - complications; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - diagnosis; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - physiopathology; Italy
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214616

Persistent left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in patients with acute lymphocytic myocarditis (LM) is widely unexplored.
To assess the frequency and predictors of persistent LV dysfunction in patients with LM and reduced LVEF at admission.
We retrospectively evaluated 89 consecutive patients with histologically-proven acute myocarditis enrolled at three Italian referral hospitals. A subgroup of 48 patients with LM, baseline systolic impairment and an available echocardiographic assessment at 12 months (6-18) from discharge constituted the study population. The primary study end-point was persistent LV dysfunction, defined as LVEF <50% at 1-year, and was observed in 27/48 patients (56.3%). Higher LV end-diastolic diameter at admission (odds ratio [OR] 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.43, p = 0.002), non-fulminant presentation (OR 8.46, 95% CI 1.28-55.75, p = 0.013) and presence of a poor lymphocytic infiltrate (OR 12.40, 95% CI 1.23-124.97, p = 0.010) emerged as independent predictors of persistent LV dysfunction at multivariate analysis (area under the curve 0.91, 95% CI 0.82-0.99). Pre-discharge LVEF was lower in patients with persistent LV dysfunction compared to the others (32%±8 vs. 53%±8, p <0.001), and this single variable showed the best accuracy in predicting the study end-point (area under the curve 0.95, 95% CI 0.89-1.00).
More than half of patients presenting with acute LM and LVEF <50% who survive the acute phase show persistent LV dysfunction after 1-year from hospital discharge. Features of subacute inflammatory process and of established myocardial damage at initial hospitalization emerged as predictors of this end-point.