Deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain for cardiac MRI diagnosis of acute myocarditis…

AI / informaticsThe international journal of cardiovascular imaging· Aug 2026

Deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain for cardiac MRI diagnosis of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction.

Xinping Zhang, Ce Wang, Caixue Cheng … Yuantao Huang

Cardiothoracic ImagingAI / informaticsQ2IF 1.7

Deep learning-derived strain outperformed conventional strain for detecting myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction.

Deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain for cardiac MRI diagnosis of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction.

Xinping Zhang … Yuantao Huang

The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · Aug 2026 · Q2 in Radiology

Purpose

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain (DL-LVCS), a method that reduces operator dependency and analysis time compared with conventional feature tracking, in patients with acute myocarditis and preserved LVEF (≥ 55%), and to compare it with feature tracking-derived strain (FT-LVCS).

Methods

This retrospective study, conducted between January 2021 and December 2024, included 142 patients with acute myocarditis, stratified into preserved EF (AMY-pEF, n = 106, mean age, 31 ± 9 years; 80 male) and reduced EF (n = 36, mean age, 33 ± 12 years; 27 male) groups, alongside 106 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (mean age, 32 ± 7 years; 78 male).

n = 142 patients

Results

AUROC; 1.0 is perfect, higher scores mean better discrimination than conventional strain

FT-LVCS

0.806AUC

DL-LVCS

0.887AUC

More results

Conventional LVCS was also obtained.

In the AMY-pEF group, both FT-LVCS (-18.4%±1.2 vs. -19.8% ±1.3) and DL-LVCS (-8.0%±1.4 vs. -10.4%±1.8) were significantly impaired versus controls (both P < 0.001).

For diagnosing AMY-pEF, FT-LVCS (cutoff=-19.3%) achieved an AUC of 0.806, with 67.2% sensitivity and 84.5% specificity.

More results

It may serve as a supplementary CMR biomarker when standard functional metrics are within normal ranges.

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Conclusion

DL-LVCS enables quantification of myocardial deformation and demonstrates higher sensitivity than conventional LVCS for discriminating patients with CMR-defined acute myocarditis and preserved LVEF from healthy controls.

Deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain for cardiac MRI diagnosis of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction.

Deep learning-derived left ventricular circumferential strain for cardiac MRI diagnosis of acute myocarditis with preserved ejection fraction.

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