Could MRI imaging detect early signs of heart disease in lupus sufferers?

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the joints, skin and many other organs throughout the body. Modern treatments have improved the outlook for people with lupus, however there is currently no cure. It remains a variable and unpredictable condition and may even be life-threatening for people whose vital organs, like the heart, are affected. Careful monitoring of the condition is needed so that potentially serious complications can be recognised and treated promptly, and a team of researchers seems to have made a major leap forward in this area. The group from China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University, led by Drs Meng Jiang and Jun Pu, has used cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to produce detailed pictures of the heart to uncover the initial signs of heart disease in lupus patients. The researchers used CMR imaging on 50 patients who had just been diagnosed with lupus and 60 who had been dealing with the disease for a long time, as well as 50 people without the condition. The scans revealed cardiac issues or problems with the heart such as scarring, and showed that these issues progressed alongside the lupus. What is most interesting is that the team were able to detect these cardiac issues in patients who had only just been diagnosed with the disease, and who had not reported any related systems such as chest discomfort. Current tests that assess lupus patients' heart health like electrocardiograms (ECGs) cannot often show the changes that ca...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news