Clinical evaluation of myocardial involvement in acute myopericarditis in young adults

BACKGROUND: Myocardial involvement in young adults has various causes. Acute myopericarditis is one of the myocardial involvements in young adults. It is easy to confuse with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction because of the electrocardiographic features. This study aims to investigate a number of imaging techniques and clinical features for acute myopericarditis in young adults (<30 years of age). METHODS: This retrospective study included 147 patients selected from the 2147 patients at the age of <30 with acute chest pain admitted into emergency service between 2010 and 2016. Of 147 patients, 77 patients were diagnosed with acute myopericarditis (group I) (between 18 and 30 aged) and 70 patients had ST-elevation myocardial infarction (group II). The echocardiographic pictures and information of the patients in both groups were rechecked in terms of impaired segmental wall-motion abnormalities, pericardial effusion, and additional features. RESULTS: The patients in group I had focal echobright, which was defined as myocardial brightness in the left ventricle regions, especially in posterior and lateral wall. Focal echobright was observed in the 75 of 77 cases of acute myopericarditis in transthoracic echocardiogram. This sign was confirmed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Focal echobright sensitivity was 95%; its specificity was 93%; its predictive was 95.2%. Pericardial effusion (83%) was observed in group I behind posterior wall. Its specificity was 81%; its sensitivity was 65%; predictivity was 73%. CONCLUSIONS: Pericardial effusion and myocardial focal echobright in echocardiography can be quite sensitive indicators for acute myopericarditis in young adults.