<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>to observe the
association between myocardial
fibrosis, detected by delayed-enhancement (DE) cardiac
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and
arrhythmia in
patients with
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>forty-eight untreated HCM
patients who underwent Cine MR, DE-MRI, 24 h ambulatory Holter
electrocardiogram and
ECG examinations were recruited. Extent of myocardial
fibrosis (
fibrosis mass/total LV mass) was assessed using DE imaging.
Association between arrhythmias including premature ventricular complexes (PVCS ≥ 200), supra-
ventricular tachycardia (SVT), non-sustained
ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), atrio-ventricular block (AVB) and intra-ventricular block (IVB) detected by
Holter monitoring and
ECG with regard to delayed enhancement (DE) on contrast enhanced CMR was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>myocardial
fibrosis was detected in 35
patients.
Incidence of
arrhythmia was significantly higher in
patients with DE than in
patients without DE (P < 0.05). Extent of myocardial
fibrosis was significantly associated with the QRS duration (r = 0.33, P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>myocardial
fibrosis detected by DE-CMR was associated with
arrhythmia in
patients with HCM. DE-CMR might be helpful to detect high-
risk HCM
patients prone to
arrhythmia.</p>