Multi-Center Prospective Study on Cardiac Sarcoidosis Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcomes

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to better understand cardiac sarcoidosis CS, a condition where sarcoidosis affects the heart, causing serious heart problems like conduction disease, cardiomyopathy, and ventricular tachycardia. Many patients with CS remain undiagnosed, leading to significant health risks. There are no clear treatment guidelines, and corticosteroid therapy is commonly used but not well studied. This multi-center prospective cohort study, led by a Canadian research group, seeks to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for CS patients. Participants will be divided into two groups those with clinically manifest CS and those with extra-cardiac sarcoidosis being screened for cardiac involvement. Baseline assessments include medical history, heart imaging tests echocardiogram, ECG, cardiac MRI, CT scan, FDG-PET, blood biomarkers, and possibly biopsy. Follow-up visits occur every 3 to 6 months for clinically manifest patients with repeated imaging and blood tests, then annually with echocardiogram and ECG. Patients with silent CS are followed every two years, while those with no cardiac involvement are contacted at 5 years and study completion. Treatments like steroids, immunosuppressants, and device therapy are managed by the treating physician. Throughout the study, researchers will monitor clinical outcomes such as mortality, heart failure hospitalizations, heart function changes, and arrhythmia burden. Imaging core labs will independently review scans without clinical information to ensure unbiased results. Biomarker analysis will be performed at a dedicated lab. All participants will be followed for at least four years after the last patient enrolls, allowing detailed tracking of disease progression and treatment effects over time.

Cardiac Sarcoidosis Multi-Center Prospective Cohort