Cardiac sarcoid is a potentially fatal condition that presents with a wide range of clinical manifestations including conduction abnormalities, tachyarrhythmias, congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death. Small observational registries and non-comparative studies have described clinical evidence of cardiac involvement in 5% of patients with systemic sarcoid, yet autopsy studies suggest prevalence as high as 79%. This suggests that cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is underdiagnosed in everyday clinical practice. The scarcity of data and lack of consensus on the most appropriate methods for detecting, monitoring and treating CS presents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. This review explores the potential impact of novel strategies, including multimodality imaging, on the diagnostic accuracy for detecting CS and treatment.
Keywords: MRI; cardiac sarcoidosis; echocardiography; nuclear imaging; positron emission tomography.