Myocardial Metabolic Changes Detected Post-COVID-19 with Hyperpolarized Pyruvate

Abstract

Noninvasive detection of myocardial inflammation can be challenging. Up to 73% of patients recovered from COVID-19 had increased native T1 on cardiac MRI1 representing inflammation or edema. Therefore, we tested whether hyperpolarized (HP) [1-13C]pyruvate detectis post-COVID-19 inflammation in the myocardium. HP [1-13C]lactate has been suggested as a surrogate imaging marker of inflammation in the heart2,3, attributed to increased glycolytic activity in infiltrating white cells plus a possible increase in activity of lactate dehydrogenase. We demonstrate the feasibility of imaging with HP [1-13C]pyruvate as noninvasive method to detect metabolic changes that may identify cardiac inflammation in the convalescent stage after COVID-19.