Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: is it associated with a higher incidence of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy?

Abstract

Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) during cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be seen in patients with myocardial fibrosis accompanied by myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathy. Some idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients have fibrosis in the myocardium and show LGE during cardiac MRI. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of LGE in patients with DCM. We recruited 32 DCM patients who had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of <40% by echocardiography and performed cardiac MRI. LGE images were obtained 15 min after injection of Gd-DTPA (0.1 mmol/kg) using an inversion recovery gradient echo sequence. We compared LGE(+) and LGE(-) groups in terms of their nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) properties. We also compared LGE and the frequency of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation. In total, 18 patients (56.3%) had LGE and a higher incidence of NSVT (P = 0.01). ICD implantation was more frequent in the LGE(+) group (P = 0.04). Because the LGE(+) patients showed a higher incidence of NSVT and ICD implantation, cardiac MRI could prove to be a useful tool in the management of DCM patients.