Intensification of relative myocardial T2-weighted magnetic resonance signals in patients with acute viral myocarditis: report of one case.

A 10-year-old girl was admitted to our hospital because of frequent attacks of syncope over a period of two days. A physical examination, electrocardiogram, echocardiograms and a cardiac enzyme study concluded that the girl was likely to be suffering from acute viral myocarditis. Intensities of the T2-Weighted magnetic resonance signals between the myocardium and the trapezius muscle of this patient on the first, the eighth, and the twenty-eighth hospital day were 5.1, 7.8, and 3.6 respectively. These values were significantly higher than the values of seven other patients without a history of acute viral myocarditis. Therefore, we concluded that the myocardial T2-weighted signal did intensify in patients with acute viral myocarditis.