Abstract 12742: Positive Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography Correlates with the Appearance of Advanced Heart Block in Patients with Cardiac Sarcoidosis

Background: Although the long-term prognosis of patients with sarcoidosis is generally well, that of patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is poor as it causes fatal arrhythmias including advanced heart block (AHB) and heart failure. In this study, we thus aimed to identify the predictors of occurrence of AHB in patients. Methods: We examined 61 consecutive patients with CS who were admitted to our Hospital from April 2002 until March 2012. The diagnosis of CS was made based on the guidelines by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. We analyzed various demographic, clinical, and imaging data and examined their association with AHB as a primary presentation of CS. Results: The CS patients were characterized by middle-age (57±12 years), more females (70%) and normal heart structure in half of them and septal thinning and a dilated cardiomyopathy-like phenotype in the remaining half. AHB was the most commonly encountered electrical abnormality (39%). Of the parameters studied, no significant associat...