Myocarditis: non invasive imaging of myocardial muscle in ventricular tachycardia by cardiac MRI.

Myocarditis is an important cause of sudden death in young adults where infectious diseases, in previously healthy patients, account for the majority of cases. Cardiac MR imaging offers an extremely versatile, comprehensive and accurate tool for evaluation of morphological and functional abnormalities, pericardial effusion, myocardial tissue characterization for myocardial edema, hyperemia and capillary leak by myocardial early gadolinium enhancement and necrosis and fibrosis by late gadolinium enhancement besides enabling non invasive follow up with significant inter-observer consistency, and quantitative accuracy.