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Acute myocarditis remains a challenging diagnosis to make, even with use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and myocardial biopsy (MB). In a mouse model of myocarditis, investigators identified a novel circulating microRNA derived from helper T cells that appeared to distinguish myocarditis from myocardial infarction (MI). They then identified the human homologue and tested and measured its expression in plasma from patients with myocarditis (n=42) as well as those with MI (n=90) and normal controls (n=80).
The microRNA was able to distinguish the diagnosis of myocarditis from MI with excellent accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.927), although levels of the microRNA varied widely among those with myocarditis…