Early Myocardial Dysfunction in Sepsis Patients: Insights from Creatine CEST CMR Imaging

Motivation: Myocardial dysfunction is a common complication of sepsis, and a leading cause of mortality. However, research on assessing myocardial dysfunction in sepsis remains limited. Goal(s): To explore the efficacy of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) for evaluating myocardial dysfunction in patients with sepsis. Approach: We applied CMR to quantitatively evaluate the myocardial tissue characteristics and cardiac function in patients and healthy controls (HCs) by T1, T2, cine and CEST mapping. Results: Patients exhibited significantly reduced creatine level, elevated T1 and T2, lower LVEF and RVEF compared to HCs. cTn-I＞0.026ng/ml was associated with decreased Cr-CEST value. Impact: CEST can complement conventional CMR by providing valuable insights into early clinical diagnosis of myocardial dysfunction in sepsis, thereby facilitating timely therapeutic strategies.