Figure 2.

Correlations between circulating inflammatory markers and diffuse and regional myocardial fibrosis. Plasma cytokines/chemokines were measured using multiplex kits in 20 healthy controls and 50 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Diffuse fibrosis was evaluated by post-contrast T₁ time. T₁ time used in this figure indicated values excluding LGE (late gadolinium enhancement). Regional myocardial fibrosis was evaluated by LGE and expressed as a percentage of LGE mass to total LV mass. Plasma levels of stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1 and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 were inversely correlated with T₁ times, while circulating levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-4 and MCP-1 were positively correlated with the quantity of LGE.