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Table 3  A summary of diagnostic approaches indicating heart injury and their cardiac interpretation

From: Cardiovascular complications and outcomes among athletes with COVID-19 disease: a systematic review

Test

Finding

Interpretation

Peri-epicardial LGE

Increase contrast uptake

Active pericarditis causing fibrosis and/or edema

Myocarditis causing regional damage

Myocardial LGE

Non-ischemic patterns

Recovered or acute myocarditis

T1 and T2 MRI scans

Increase T1*

Myocardial interstitial fibrosis

Increase T2**

Myocardial Edema

Both increase

Active inflammation

T1 increased with normal T2

Recovered with some myocardial fibrosis leftover

C-reactive protein (CRP)

Increase CRP

Myocarditis or pericarditis

Natriuretic peptide (NP)

Elevation

Myocardial injury

  1. *T1: the time constant for regrowth of longitudinal magnetization
  2. ** T2: the time constant for decay/dephasing of transverse magnetization