Deep learning automatically distinguishes myocarditis patients from normal subjects based on MRI

Myocarditis, characterized by inflammation of the myocardial tissue, presents substantial risks to cardiovascular functionality, potentially precipitating critical outcomes including heart failure and arrhythmias. This investigation primarily aims to identify the optimal cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) views for distinguishing between normal and myocarditis cases, using deep learning (DL) methodologies. Analyzing CMRI data from a cohort of 269 individuals, with 231 confirmed myocarditis cases and 38 as control participants, we implemented an innovative DL framework to facilitate the automated detection of myocarditis. Our approach was divided into single-frame and multi-frame analyses to evaluate different views and types of acquisitions for optimal diagnostic accuracy. The results demonstrated a weighted accuracy of 96.9%, with the highest accuracy achieved using the late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) 2-chamber view, underscoring the potential of DL in distinguishing myocarditis from normal cases on CMRI data.