Abstract
BackgroundTo evaluate a non-contrast respiratory- and electrocardiogram-gated 3D cardiovascular magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) based on magnetization-prepared Dixon method (relaxation-enhanced angiography without contrast and triggering, REACT) for the assessment of the thoracic vasculature in congenital heart disease (CHD) patients.Methods70 patients with CHD (mean 28 years, range: 10–65 years) were retrospectively identified in this single-center study. REACT-CMRA was applied with respiratory- and cardiac-gating. Image quality (IQ) of REACT-CMRA was compared to standard non-gated multi-phase first-pass-CMRA and respiratory- and electrocardiogram-gated steady-state-CMRA. IQ of different vessels of interest (ascending aorta, left pulmonary artery, left superior pulmonary vein, right coronary ostium, coronary sinus) was independently assessed by two readers on a five-point Likert scale. Measurements of vessel diameters were performed in predefined anatomic landmarks (ascending aorta, left pulmonary artery, left superior pulmonary vein). Both readers assessed artifacts and vascular abnormalities. Friedman test, chi-squared test, and Bland-Altman method were used for statistical analysis.ResultsOverall IQ score of REACT-CMRA was higher compared to first-pass-CMRA (3.5 ± 0.4 vs. 2.7 ± 0.4, P < 0.001) and did not differ from steady-state-CMRA (3.5 ± 0.4 vs. 3.5 ± 0.6, P = 0.99). Non-diagnostic IQ of the defined vessels of interest was observed less frequently on REACT-CMRA (1.7 %) compared to steady-state- (4.3 %, P = 0.046) or first-pass-CMRA (20.9 %, P < 0.001). Close agreements in vessel diameter measurements were observed between REACT-CMRA and steady-state-CMRA (e.g. ascending aorta, bias: 0.38 ± 1.0 mm, 95 % limits of agreement (LOA): − 1.62–2.38 mm). REACT-CMRA showed high intra- (bias: 0.04 ± 1.0 mm, 95 % LOA: − 1.9–2.0 mm) and interobserver (bias: 0.20 ± 1.1 mm, 95 % LOA: − 2.0–2.4 mm) agreements regarding vessel diameter measurements. Fat-water separation artifacts were observed in 11/70 (16 %) patients on REACT-CMRA but did not limit diagnostic utility. Six vascular abnormalities were detected on REACT-CMRA that were not seen on standard contrast-enhanced CMRA.ConclusionsNon-contrast-enhanced cardiac-gated REACT-CMRA offers a high diagnostic quality for assessment of the thoracic vasculature in CHD patients.
Highlights
To evaluate a non-contrast respiratory- and electrocardiogram-gated 3D cardiovascular magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) based on magnetization-prepared Dixon method for the assessment of the thoracic vasculature in congenital heart disease (CHD) patients
Comparison of vessel measurements between the different CMRA sequences were compared by using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey multiple comparison tests
Non-parametric Friedman test followed by Dunn test was used for multiple group comparison of image quality between the three applied CMRA techniques
Summary
To evaluate a non-contrast respiratory- and electrocardiogram-gated 3D cardiovascular magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) based on magnetization-prepared Dixon method (relaxation-enhanced angiography without contrast and triggering, REACT) for the assessment of the thoracic vasculature in congenital heart disease (CHD) patients. The clinical course of patients with CHD varies and late complications limit long-term clinical outcome [3, 4]. Life-long follow-up non-invasive imaging is indicated in CHD patients. Due to its wide availability, noninvasiveness, and cost effectiveness, echocardiography is the first-line imaging modality in patients with CHD [5, 6]. Phase-contrast CMR imaging and contrast-enhanced CMR angiography (CMRA) have been implemented as essential components within the standard CMR protocol for the evaluation of the vascular system of patients with different types of CHD [6, 7]
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