Abstract
Introduction: Serial positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is utilized to monitor disease activity and treatment response in patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). However, there is no data available on the cardiovascular outcomes associated with corticosteroid taper rates and timing of repeat PET imaging in patients with CS. Methods: We identified 70 patients with suspected CS (Age: 56.3 ± 9, 31% female, LVEF 45.6 ± 13.6, median follow-up time: 6.3 months [4-7.6]) who were treatment naïve and displayed inflammation on baseline FDG-PET, subsequently started on a moderate-dose of prednisone only (i.e., 30-40 mg/day), and had a diagnostic follow-up PET. Patients were divided into two groups based on median follow-up time between PET scans; early (<6.3 months, n=35) or delayed (≥6.3 months, n=35) surveillance imaging. Corticosteroid taper was captured by measuring weekly changes in prednisone from treatment initiation to follow-up PET. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were defined as sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF), heart failure (HF) admission, and death. Results: In this homogenously treated cohort, overall, we observed no significant difference in MACE between early vs delayed imaging groups (p=0.117, Figure 1A). Furthermore, there were no significant differences in corticosteroid taper rates between early and delayed groups (-0.927 ± 1.15 vs -0.618 ± 0.58, p=0.163). As such, we observed no difference in MACE associated with taper rate (p=0.647, Figure 1B). Conclusion: Patients with suspected CS undergoing repeat PET imaging had similar adverse cardiovascular outcomes despite variations in follow-up time and taper rates of prednisone. We suggest to adopt an early imaging strategy to allow for timely optimization of immunosuppression and clinical surveillance.
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