Cardiac magnetic resonance evidence of diffuse myocardial fibrosis in patients with mitral valve prolapse

Background Diffuse myocardial fibrosis can be assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) using the myocardial longitudinal relaxation time constant (T1). Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common valvulopathy with known arrhythmic complications and in-vitro evidence of overexpression of pro-fibrotic TGF-beta. Papillary muscle fibrosis has been described in MVP, but the potential association of MVP with diffuse myocardial fibrosis is unknown. This association is important as it may increase our future understanding of ventricular arrhythmias in MVP.