Early detection of myocardial and pulmonary oedema with MRI in an asymptomatic systemic sclerosis patient: successful recovery with pulse steroid.

Cardiac involvement is frequent in SSc, accounting for a substantial proportion of the mortality of the disease. In these patients, cardiac involvement is usually asymptomatic, but when it becomes clinically evident, extensive damage to the myocardium is already established and the treatment is rarely effective. These patients are exposed to the risk of sudden death due to malignant arrhythmias, therefore an early diagnosis is of paramount importance. MRI has been demonstrated to be useful in the detection of subclinical heart involvement.