Early Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Abnormal Left Ventricular-left Atrial Coupling in Asymptomatic Patients With Hypertension: A Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking Study.

PURPOSE:Hypertension (HTN) patients suffer from increased risk of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction and LV hypertrophy (LVH). Evaluation of early LV diastolic function requires accurate noninvasive diagnostic tools. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature-tracking (CMR-FT) could detect early LV dysfunction and evaluate LV-left atrium (LA) correlation in HTN patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In all, 89 HTN patients and 38 age-matched and sex-matched controls were retrospectively enrolled and underwent CMR examination. HTN patients were divided into LVH (n=38) and non-LVH (n=51) groups. All LV deformation parameters were analyzed in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions, including peak strain, peak systolic strain rate and peak diastolic strain rate (PDSR), LA strain and strain rate (SR), including LA reservoir function (εs, SRs), conduit function (εe, SRe), and booster pump function (εa, SRa).RESULTS:Compared with controls, the LV PDSR in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions and the LA reservoir and conduit function were significantly impaired in HTN patients regardless of LVH (all P<0.05). LV longitudinal and radial PDSR were correlated with LA reservoir and conduit function (all P<0.01). Among all LV and LA impaired deformation parameters, the longitudinal PDSR (in LV) and εe (in LA) were the most sensitive parameter for the discrimination between non-LVH and healthy volunteers, with an area under the curve of 0.70 (specificity 79%, sensitivity 55%) and 0.76 (specificity 95%, sensitivity 49%), respectively. The area under the curve reached 0.81 (specificity 82%, sensitivity 75%) combined with the longitudinal PDSR and εe.CONCLUSION:CMR-FT could detect early LV diastolic dysfunction in HTN patients, which might be associated with LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction.

Deep learning algorithm to improve hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mutation prediction using cardiac cine images.

OBJECTIVES:The high variability of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) genetic phenotypes has prompted the establishment of risk-stratification systems that predict the risk of a positive genetic mutation based on clinical and echocardiographic profiles. This study aims to improve mutation-risk prediction by extracting cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) morphological features using a deep learning algorithm.METHODS:We recruited 198 HCM patients (48% men, aged 47 ± 13 years) and divided them into training (147 cases) and test (51 cases) sets based on different genetic testing institutions and CMR scan dates (2012, 2013, respectively). All patients underwent CMR examinations, HCM genetic testing, and an assessment of established genotype scores (Mayo Clinic score I, Mayo Clinic score II, and Toronto score). A deep learning (DL) model was developed to classify the HCM genotypes, based on a nonenhanced four-chamber view of cine images.RESULTS:The areas under the curve (AUCs) for the test set were Mayo Clinic score I (AUC: 0.64, sensitivity: 64.29%, specificity: 47.83%), Mayo Clinic score II (AUC: 0.70, sensitivity: 64.29%, specificity: 65.22%), Toronto score (AUC: 0.74, sensitivity: 75.00%, specificity: 56.52%), and DL model (AUC: 0.80, sensitivity: 85.71%, specificity: 69.57%). The combination of the DL and the Toronto score resulted in a significantly higher predictive performance (AUC = 0.84, sensitivity: 83.33%, specificity: 78.26%), compared with Mayo I (p = 006), Mayo II (p = 022), and Toronto score (p = 0.029).CONCLUSIONS:The combination of the DL model, based on nonenhanced cine CMR images and the Toronto score yielded significantly higher diagnostic performance in detecting HCM mutations.KEY POINTS:• Deep learning method could enable the extraction of image features from cine images. • Deep learning method based on cine images performed better than established scores in identifying HCM patients with positive genotypes. • The combination of the deep learning method based on cine images and the Toronto score could further improve the performance of the identification of HCM patients with positive genotypes.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular apical aneurysm: prevalence, cardiac magnetic resonance characteristics, and prognosis.

AIMS:Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with left ventricular apical aneurysm (LVAA) is associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, the clinical significance of LVAA in apical HCM (ApHCM) has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) characteristics, and prognosis of LVAA in ApHCM patients.METHODS AND RESULTS:A total of 1332 consecutive ApHCM patients confirmed by CMR in our hospital were retrospectively analysed. LVAAs were identified in 31 patients of all ApHCM patients (2.3%, 31/1332). Besides, 31 age- and gender-matched ApHCM patients without LVAA were used for comparison. Of the 31 aneurysm patients (mean age, 53.8 ± 15.1 years old), 28 (90.3%) had clinical symptoms, and 3 (9.7%) had a family history of HCM. The rate of missed diagnosis of echocardiography for detecting LVAA was 64.5% (20/31), most (90%, 18/20) of unidentified LVAAs by echocardiography were small aneurysms (<20 mm). Compared with ApHCM patients without LVAA, the proportion of systolic mid-cavity obstruction and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) presence, and the LGE extent in ApHCM patients with LVAA were significantly higher (all P<0.05). The Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the event-free survival rate in ApHCM patients with LVAA was significantly lower than that in ApHCM patients without LVAA (log rank, P = 0.010).CONCLUSION:ApHCM with LVAA is a very rare condition, which is often missed by echocardiography and could be reliably detected with CMR and is associated with a higher risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with ApHCM without LVAA.

Early detection of left atrial dysfunction assessed by CMR feature tracking in hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVES:To evaluate whether early left atrial (LA) dysfunction in hypertension (HTN), with or without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), can be detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT).METHODS:Seventy-three HTN patients and 29 healthy controls were retrospectively recruited. HTN patients were divided into the LVH (n = 29) and non-LVH group (n = 44). LA performance was analysed using CMR-FT in 2- and 4-chamber cine images, including LA reservoir function (total ejection fraction [EF], total strain [εs], peak positive strain rate [SRs]), conduit function (passive EF, passive strain [εe], peak early negative strain rate [SRe]) and booster pump function (booster EF, active strain [εa], late peak negative strain rate [SRa]). One-way analysis of variance with post hoc LSD tests, Spearman analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve and intra-class correlation coefficient analysis were applied for statistical analyses.RESULTS:Compared with healthy controls, LA reservoir (LA total EF, εs, SRs) and conduit function (LA passive EF, εe, SRe) were significantly impaired in HTN patients with or without LVH, and these parameters significantly correlated with mitral E/A < 1 (all p < 0.05). However, LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients, representing an intermediate stage between the LVH group and controls. Among LA deformation parameters, εe showed the highest diagnostic value for differentiation of HTN patients with healthy controls (AUC, 0.82; sensitivity, 80.82%; specificity, 72.41%). Observer reproducibility was good-excellent (ICC, 0.83-0.97) for all CMR-FT derived parameters.CONCLUSIONS:CMR-FT is a promising tool for quantification of LA function. LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients before the presence of LVH.KEY POINTS:• CMR-FT is a promising tool in quantifying LA function, including deformation and volumetric parameters. • LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients with or without LVH. • The LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients.

[Clinical and cardiac magnetic resonance features of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients complicating with left ventricular apical aneurysm].

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) features of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ApHCM) patients complicating with left ventricular apical aneurysm (LVAA). Methods: CMR confirmed 25 ApHCM patients complicating with LVAA from January 2010 to December 2017 in Fuwai hospital were included in this study, and the baseline clinical data and CMR characteristics were retrospectively analyzed. There were 14 pure ApHCM (hypertrophy limited at the apical segments) complicating with LVAA patients and 11 mixed ApHCM (predominantly apical hypertrophy along with thickening of contiguous non-apical left ventricular region) with LVAA patients. Results: In this patient cohort,age of 84% (21/25) patients ranged between 20-70 years old, and 68% (17/25) were male. There were 68% (17/25) patients with complaint of chest distress symptom, 56% (14/25) with complaint of chest pain, 32% (8/25) with complaint of palpitation,16% (4/25) with complaint of dyspnea, and 12% (3/25) presented as syncope. ST-T segment changes of electrocardiogram were observed in all patients, and giant negative T waves were detected in 80% patients (20/25). The rate of missed diagnosis by echocardiography for detecting ApHCM and LVAA was 16% (4/25) and 68% (17/25), respectively. CMR showed discrete thin-walled dyskinetic or akinetic segment of the most distal portion of the left ventricular chamber in ApHCM patients with LVAA. Transmural late gadolinium enhancement of the aneurysmal rim was detected in 76% (19/25) patients, and the maximum transverse dimension of aneurysm was bigger in patients with transmural late gadolinium enhancement than in patients without transmural late gadolinium enhancement ((22.0±10.8)mm vs. (11.7±4.0) mm, P=0.033). Conclusion: ApHCM with LVAA patients have distinct cardiac clinical features, and CMR is the most useful tool for the accurate and objective evaluation of this disease.

Retrospective Electrocardiography-Gated Real-Time Cardiac Cine MRI at 3T: Comparison with Conventional Segmented Cine MRI.

Objective:Segmented cardiac cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard for cardiac ventricular volumetric assessment. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, this technique may generate images with inadequate quality for diagnosis. Real-time cardiac cine MRI has been developed to address this limitation. We aimed to assess the performance of retrospective electrocardiography-gated real-time cine MRI at 3T for left ventricular (LV) volume and mass measurement.Materials and Methods:Fifty-one patients were consecutively enrolled. A series of short-axis cine images covering the entire left ventricle using both segmented and real-time balanced steady-state free precession cardiac cine MRI were obtained. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), and LV mass were measured. The agreement and correlation of the parameters were assessed. Additionally, image quality was evaluated using European CMR Registry (Euro-CMR) score and structure visibility rating.Results:In patients without difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, no significant difference was found in Euro-CMR score between the two techniques (0.3 ± 0.7 vs. 0.3 ± 0.5, p > 0.05). Good agreements and correlations were found between the techniques for measuring EDV, ESV, EF, SV, and LV mass. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, segmented cine MRI had a significant higher Euro-CMR score (2.3 ± 1.2 vs. 0.4 ± 0.5, p < 0.001).Conclusion:Real-time cine MRI at 3T allowed the assessment of LV volume with high accuracy and showed a significantly better image quality compared to that of segmented cine MRI in patients with difficulty in breath-holding and arrhythmia.

[Advances of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in detecting microcirculatory dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction].

Early Left Ventricular Involvement Detected by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy: The Effects of Left Ventricular Late Gadolinium Enhancement and Right Ventricular Dysfunction.

Background Left ventricular (LV) involvement is common in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). We aim to evaluate LV involvement in ARVC patients by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking. Methods and Results Sixty-eight patients with ARVC and 30 controls were prospectively enrolled. ARVC patients were divided into 2 subgroups: the preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) group (LVEF ≥55%, n=27) and the reduced LVEF group (LVEF <55%, n=41). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking were performed in all subjects. LV global and regional (basal, mid, apical) peak strain (PS) in radial, circumferential and longitudinal directions were assessed, respectively. Right ventricular global PS in three directions were also analyzed. Compared with the controls, LV global and regional PS were all significantly impaired in the reduced LVEF group (all P<0.05). However, only LV global longitudinal PS as well as mid and apical longitudinal PS were impaired in the preserved LVEF group (all P<0.05), and all these parameters were significantly associated with right ventricular global radial PS (r=-0.47, -0.47, and -0.49, respectively, all P<0.001). The reduced LVEF group showed significantly higher prevalence of LGE (95.10% versus 63.00%, P=0.002) than the preserved LVEF group. Moreover, LV radial PS was significantly reduced in LV segments with LGE (33.15±20.42%, n=46) than those without LGE (41.25±15.98%, n=386) in the preserved LVEF group (P=0.016). Conclusions In patients with ARVC, cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking could detect early LV dysfunction, which was associated with LV myocardial LGE and right ventricular dysfunction.

CMR assessment and clinical outcomes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with or without ventricular remodeling in the end-stage phase.

End-stage phase of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ES-HCM) is a recognized part of HCM disease spectrum. Information on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) studies for ES-HCM especially for those without ventricular remodeling has been limited. We aimed to evaluate the morpho-functional and tissue features of ES-HCM with or without ventricular remodeling and to explore CMR prognostic value in these patients. We analysed CMR scans of sixty-three ES-HCM patients and divided them into those with ventricular dilatation (D-ES, n = 41) and those with normal ventricular size (N-ES, n = 22). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between CMR parameters and outcomes. Patients in D-ES showed hypokinetic-dilated HCM phenotype, while patients in N-ES showed hypokinetic-restrictive HCM phenotype. LGE extent was significantly larger in D-ES (34.7% ± 15.4% vs. 22.8% ± 7.7%; P < 0.01). Atrial fibrillation and edema of lower extremity were more common in N-ES (72.7 vs. 29.3% and 54.5 vs. 24.4%, respectively; P < 0.05). Log-rank test found no significant difference between 2 groups in combined end point of cardiovascular events (χ2 = 0.66, P = 0.418). In multivariate analysis, LGE (HR 1.57-1.83 per 10% LGE increase, P < 0.01) and indexed left atrial volume (LAVI) (HR 1.14-1.21 per 20 mL/m2 increase, P < 0.05) remained independently associated with combined end point when adjusted by other risk factors. The CMR features of HCM in end-stage span between two extremes. LGE is more extensive in those with ventricular remodeling and LAVI is larger in those with normal ventricular size. Both LGE and LAVI are significant predictors of poor outcomes.

The value of CMR for determination of heart failure etiology: An unusual case with histology validation.

Early Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Abnormal Left Ventricular-left Atrial Coupling in Asymptomatic Patients With Hypertension: A Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking Study.

PURPOSE:Hypertension (HTN) patients suffer from increased risk of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction and LV hypertrophy (LVH). Evaluation of early LV diastolic function requires accurate noninvasive diagnostic tools. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature-tracking (CMR-FT) could detect early LV dysfunction and evaluate LV-left atrium (LA) correlation in HTN patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In all, 89 HTN patients and 38 age-matched and sex-matched controls were retrospectively enrolled and underwent CMR examination. HTN patients were divided into LVH (n=38) and non-LVH (n=51) groups. All LV deformation parameters were analyzed in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions, including peak strain, peak systolic strain rate and peak diastolic strain rate (PDSR), LA strain and strain rate (SR), including LA reservoir function (εs, SRs), conduit function (εe, SRe), and booster pump function (εa, SRa).RESULTS:Compared with controls, the LV PDSR in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions and the LA reservoir and conduit function were significantly impaired in HTN patients regardless of LVH (all P<0.05). LV longitudinal and radial PDSR were correlated with LA reservoir and conduit function (all P<0.01). Among all LV and LA impaired deformation parameters, the longitudinal PDSR (in LV) and εe (in LA) were the most sensitive parameter for the discrimination between non-LVH and healthy volunteers, with an area under the curve of 0.70 (specificity 79%, sensitivity 55%) and 0.76 (specificity 95%, sensitivity 49%), respectively. The area under the curve reached 0.81 (specificity 82%, sensitivity 75%) combined with the longitudinal PDSR and εe.CONCLUSION:CMR-FT could detect early LV diastolic dysfunction in HTN patients, which might be associated with LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction.

Deep learning algorithm to improve hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mutation prediction using cardiac cine images.

OBJECTIVES:The high variability of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) genetic phenotypes has prompted the establishment of risk-stratification systems that predict the risk of a positive genetic mutation based on clinical and echocardiographic profiles. This study aims to improve mutation-risk prediction by extracting cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) morphological features using a deep learning algorithm.METHODS:We recruited 198 HCM patients (48% men, aged 47 ± 13 years) and divided them into training (147 cases) and test (51 cases) sets based on different genetic testing institutions and CMR scan dates (2012, 2013, respectively). All patients underwent CMR examinations, HCM genetic testing, and an assessment of established genotype scores (Mayo Clinic score I, Mayo Clinic score II, and Toronto score). A deep learning (DL) model was developed to classify the HCM genotypes, based on a nonenhanced four-chamber view of cine images.RESULTS:The areas under the curve (AUCs) for the test set were Mayo Clinic score I (AUC: 0.64, sensitivity: 64.29%, specificity: 47.83%), Mayo Clinic score II (AUC: 0.70, sensitivity: 64.29%, specificity: 65.22%), Toronto score (AUC: 0.74, sensitivity: 75.00%, specificity: 56.52%), and DL model (AUC: 0.80, sensitivity: 85.71%, specificity: 69.57%). The combination of the DL and the Toronto score resulted in a significantly higher predictive performance (AUC = 0.84, sensitivity: 83.33%, specificity: 78.26%), compared with Mayo I (p = 006), Mayo II (p = 022), and Toronto score (p = 0.029).CONCLUSIONS:The combination of the DL model, based on nonenhanced cine CMR images and the Toronto score yielded significantly higher diagnostic performance in detecting HCM mutations.KEY POINTS:• Deep learning method could enable the extraction of image features from cine images. • Deep learning method based on cine images performed better than established scores in identifying HCM patients with positive genotypes. • The combination of the deep learning method based on cine images and the Toronto score could further improve the performance of the identification of HCM patients with positive genotypes.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular apical aneurysm: prevalence, cardiac magnetic resonance characteristics, and prognosis.

AIMS:Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with left ventricular apical aneurysm (LVAA) is associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, the clinical significance of LVAA in apical HCM (ApHCM) has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) characteristics, and prognosis of LVAA in ApHCM patients.METHODS AND RESULTS:A total of 1332 consecutive ApHCM patients confirmed by CMR in our hospital were retrospectively analysed. LVAAs were identified in 31 patients of all ApHCM patients (2.3%, 31/1332). Besides, 31 age- and gender-matched ApHCM patients without LVAA were used for comparison. Of the 31 aneurysm patients (mean age, 53.8 ± 15.1 years old), 28 (90.3%) had clinical symptoms, and 3 (9.7%) had a family history of HCM. The rate of missed diagnosis of echocardiography for detecting LVAA was 64.5% (20/31), most (90%, 18/20) of unidentified LVAAs by echocardiography were small aneurysms (<20 mm). Compared with ApHCM patients without LVAA, the proportion of systolic mid-cavity obstruction and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) presence, and the LGE extent in ApHCM patients with LVAA were significantly higher (all P<0.05). The Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the event-free survival rate in ApHCM patients with LVAA was significantly lower than that in ApHCM patients without LVAA (log rank, P = 0.010).CONCLUSION:ApHCM with LVAA is a very rare condition, which is often missed by echocardiography and could be reliably detected with CMR and is associated with a higher risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with ApHCM without LVAA.

Early detection of left atrial dysfunction assessed by CMR feature tracking in hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVES:To evaluate whether early left atrial (LA) dysfunction in hypertension (HTN), with or without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), can be detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT).METHODS:Seventy-three HTN patients and 29 healthy controls were retrospectively recruited. HTN patients were divided into the LVH (n = 29) and non-LVH group (n = 44). LA performance was analysed using CMR-FT in 2- and 4-chamber cine images, including LA reservoir function (total ejection fraction [EF], total strain [εs], peak positive strain rate [SRs]), conduit function (passive EF, passive strain [εe], peak early negative strain rate [SRe]) and booster pump function (booster EF, active strain [εa], late peak negative strain rate [SRa]). One-way analysis of variance with post hoc LSD tests, Spearman analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve and intra-class correlation coefficient analysis were applied for statistical analyses.RESULTS:Compared with healthy controls, LA reservoir (LA total EF, εs, SRs) and conduit function (LA passive EF, εe, SRe) were significantly impaired in HTN patients with or without LVH, and these parameters significantly correlated with mitral E/A < 1 (all p < 0.05). However, LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients, representing an intermediate stage between the LVH group and controls. Among LA deformation parameters, εe showed the highest diagnostic value for differentiation of HTN patients with healthy controls (AUC, 0.82; sensitivity, 80.82%; specificity, 72.41%). Observer reproducibility was good-excellent (ICC, 0.83-0.97) for all CMR-FT derived parameters.CONCLUSIONS:CMR-FT is a promising tool for quantification of LA function. LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients before the presence of LVH.KEY POINTS:• CMR-FT is a promising tool in quantifying LA function, including deformation and volumetric parameters. • LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients with or without LVH. • The LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients.

[Clinical and cardiac magnetic resonance features of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients complicating with left ventricular apical aneurysm].

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) features of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ApHCM) patients complicating with left ventricular apical aneurysm (LVAA). Methods: CMR confirmed 25 ApHCM patients complicating with LVAA from January 2010 to December 2017 in Fuwai hospital were included in this study, and the baseline clinical data and CMR characteristics were retrospectively analyzed. There were 14 pure ApHCM (hypertrophy limited at the apical segments) complicating with LVAA patients and 11 mixed ApHCM (predominantly apical hypertrophy along with thickening of contiguous non-apical left ventricular region) with LVAA patients. Results: In this patient cohort,age of 84% (21/25) patients ranged between 20-70 years old, and 68% (17/25) were male. There were 68% (17/25) patients with complaint of chest distress symptom, 56% (14/25) with complaint of chest pain, 32% (8/25) with complaint of palpitation,16% (4/25) with complaint of dyspnea, and 12% (3/25) presented as syncope. ST-T segment changes of electrocardiogram were observed in all patients, and giant negative T waves were detected in 80% patients (20/25). The rate of missed diagnosis by echocardiography for detecting ApHCM and LVAA was 16% (4/25) and 68% (17/25), respectively. CMR showed discrete thin-walled dyskinetic or akinetic segment of the most distal portion of the left ventricular chamber in ApHCM patients with LVAA. Transmural late gadolinium enhancement of the aneurysmal rim was detected in 76% (19/25) patients, and the maximum transverse dimension of aneurysm was bigger in patients with transmural late gadolinium enhancement than in patients without transmural late gadolinium enhancement ((22.0±10.8)mm vs. (11.7±4.0) mm, P=0.033). Conclusion: ApHCM with LVAA patients have distinct cardiac clinical features, and CMR is the most useful tool for the accurate and objective evaluation of this disease.

Retrospective Electrocardiography-Gated Real-Time Cardiac Cine MRI at 3T: Comparison with Conventional Segmented Cine MRI.

Objective:Segmented cardiac cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard for cardiac ventricular volumetric assessment. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, this technique may generate images with inadequate quality for diagnosis. Real-time cardiac cine MRI has been developed to address this limitation. We aimed to assess the performance of retrospective electrocardiography-gated real-time cine MRI at 3T for left ventricular (LV) volume and mass measurement.Materials and Methods:Fifty-one patients were consecutively enrolled. A series of short-axis cine images covering the entire left ventricle using both segmented and real-time balanced steady-state free precession cardiac cine MRI were obtained. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), and LV mass were measured. The agreement and correlation of the parameters were assessed. Additionally, image quality was evaluated using European CMR Registry (Euro-CMR) score and structure visibility rating.Results:In patients without difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, no significant difference was found in Euro-CMR score between the two techniques (0.3 ± 0.7 vs. 0.3 ± 0.5, p > 0.05). Good agreements and correlations were found between the techniques for measuring EDV, ESV, EF, SV, and LV mass. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, segmented cine MRI had a significant higher Euro-CMR score (2.3 ± 1.2 vs. 0.4 ± 0.5, p < 0.001).Conclusion:Real-time cine MRI at 3T allowed the assessment of LV volume with high accuracy and showed a significantly better image quality compared to that of segmented cine MRI in patients with difficulty in breath-holding and arrhythmia.

[Advances of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in detecting microcirculatory dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction].

Early Left Ventricular Involvement Detected by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking in Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy: The Effects of Left Ventricular Late Gadolinium Enhancement and Right Ventricular Dysfunction.

Background Left ventricular (LV) involvement is common in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). We aim to evaluate LV involvement in ARVC patients by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking. Methods and Results Sixty-eight patients with ARVC and 30 controls were prospectively enrolled. ARVC patients were divided into 2 subgroups: the preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) group (LVEF ≥55%, n=27) and the reduced LVEF group (LVEF <55%, n=41). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking were performed in all subjects. LV global and regional (basal, mid, apical) peak strain (PS) in radial, circumferential and longitudinal directions were assessed, respectively. Right ventricular global PS in three directions were also analyzed. Compared with the controls, LV global and regional PS were all significantly impaired in the reduced LVEF group (all P<0.05). However, only LV global longitudinal PS as well as mid and apical longitudinal PS were impaired in the preserved LVEF group (all P<0.05), and all these parameters were significantly associated with right ventricular global radial PS (r=-0.47, -0.47, and -0.49, respectively, all P<0.001). The reduced LVEF group showed significantly higher prevalence of LGE (95.10% versus 63.00%, P=0.002) than the preserved LVEF group. Moreover, LV radial PS was significantly reduced in LV segments with LGE (33.15±20.42%, n=46) than those without LGE (41.25±15.98%, n=386) in the preserved LVEF group (P=0.016). Conclusions In patients with ARVC, cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking could detect early LV dysfunction, which was associated with LV myocardial LGE and right ventricular dysfunction.

CMR assessment and clinical outcomes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with or without ventricular remodeling in the end-stage phase.

End-stage phase of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ES-HCM) is a recognized part of HCM disease spectrum. Information on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) studies for ES-HCM especially for those without ventricular remodeling has been limited. We aimed to evaluate the morpho-functional and tissue features of ES-HCM with or without ventricular remodeling and to explore CMR prognostic value in these patients. We analysed CMR scans of sixty-three ES-HCM patients and divided them into those with ventricular dilatation (D-ES, n = 41) and those with normal ventricular size (N-ES, n = 22). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between CMR parameters and outcomes. Patients in D-ES showed hypokinetic-dilated HCM phenotype, while patients in N-ES showed hypokinetic-restrictive HCM phenotype. LGE extent was significantly larger in D-ES (34.7% ± 15.4% vs. 22.8% ± 7.7%; P < 0.01). Atrial fibrillation and edema of lower extremity were more common in N-ES (72.7 vs. 29.3% and 54.5 vs. 24.4%, respectively; P < 0.05). Log-rank test found no significant difference between 2 groups in combined end point of cardiovascular events (χ2 = 0.66, P = 0.418). In multivariate analysis, LGE (HR 1.57-1.83 per 10% LGE increase, P < 0.01) and indexed left atrial volume (LAVI) (HR 1.14-1.21 per 20 mL/m2 increase, P < 0.05) remained independently associated with combined end point when adjusted by other risk factors. The CMR features of HCM in end-stage span between two extremes. LGE is more extensive in those with ventricular remodeling and LAVI is larger in those with normal ventricular size. Both LGE and LAVI are significant predictors of poor outcomes.

The value of CMR for determination of heart failure etiology: An unusual case with histology validation.