The importance of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of myocarditis--a case report.

The authors describe the case of a 16-year-old male, who went to the emergency department with a clinical setting characterized by chest pain, electrocardiographic pattern of inferoposterior acute myocardial infarction and elevated markers of myocardial necrosis. Cardiac catheterization revealed no significant coronary lesions and the transthoracic echocardiogram showed no segmental abnormalities. Myocarditis was suspected, and this diagnosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. This case demonstrates the difficulty of establishing a definitive diagnosis of myocarditis and the increasing importance of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in this area.