Fig. 3
T2 time during the course of disease. Global T2 time and percentage of myocardial extent with T2 values exceeding 80 ms (Fraction >80 ms) is elevated in patients with acute myocarditis (sAMC) compared to healed myocarditis and controls. Global myocardial T2 time led to a significant distinction of controls (n = 60) and patients with acute myocarditis (n = 46) (p < 0.001). T2 time at follow-up examination (n = 23) was markedly lower (64.4 ± 6.4 ms) than in patients at acute stage of disease (n = 46) (68.1 ± 5.8 ms) (p = 0.02) and higher than in controls (n = 60) (60.0 ± 4.2 ms) (p < 0.001). Left ventricular extent with T2 time exceeding 80 ms allows a differentiation between controls (4.1 ± 3.0%) and patients with acute myocarditis (17.7 ± 11.5%) (p < 0.001), as well as between healed myocarditis (13.6 ± 13.3%) and controls (p = 0.04), but not between active and healed myocarditis (p = 0.14). The error bars indicate median with interquartile range. Abbreviations: CMR = Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Fraction >80 ms = Percentage of myocardial extent with T2 time >80 ms