Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Perfusion Imaging Research Articles

A Case Report of Aberrant Origin of the Right Coronary Artery from thePulmonary Artery in an Adult Male: The Role of Multi-modality Imaging

Background: The normal anatomy of the coronary arteries consists of the right coronary artery and the left main coronary artery, which originate from the right and left sinuses of Valsalva in the aortic root separately. In general, congenital anomalies of the coronary artery are uncommon in adults. The ectopic origin of a coronary artery from the pulmonary trunk is part of a group of infrequent coronary artery anomalies. The Anomalous origin of the Right Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery (ARCAPA) is thought to be an extremely rare congenital coronary artery anomaly. Most of our knowledge and experience about this congenital coronary malformation is derived from published case reports and series. Case Presentation: We have, herein, reported the case of a 68-year-old male who was discovered to have ARCAPA after he presented to our center with chest pain. The patient underwent multiple invasive and non-invasive diagnostic imaging modalities, including an echocardiogram, a coronary angiogram, a multislice-gated coronary computed tomographic angiogram, and stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. The clinical decision was to continue with conservative non-surgical management along with close follow-up. Conclusion: The ARCAPA anomaly is considered to be one of the rare congenital coronary artery variances that can be discovered in late adulthood as a patient may remain asymptomatic for many decades.

Clinical implementation of a fully automated quantitative perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging workflow with a simplified dual-bolus contrast administration scheme

This study clinically implemented a ready-to-use quantitative perfusion (QP) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (QP CMR) workflow, encompassing a simplified dual-bolus gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) administration scheme and fully automated QP image post-processing. Twenty-five patients with suspected obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent both adenosine stress perfusion CMR and an invasive coronary angiography or coronary computed tomography angiography. The dual-bolus protocol consisted of a pre-bolus (0.0075 mmol/kg GBCA at 0.5 mmol/ml concentration + 20 ml saline) and a main bolus (0.075 mmol/kg GBCA at 0.5 mmol/ml concentration + 20 ml saline) at an infusion rate of 3 ml/s. The arterial input function curves showed excellent quality. Stress MBF ≤ 1.84 ml/g/min accurately detected obstructive CAD (area under the curve 0.79; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.66 to 0.89). Combined visual assessment of color pixel QP maps and conventional perfusion images yielded a diagnostic accuracy of 84%, sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 93%. The proposed easy-to-use dual-bolus QP CMR workflow provides good image quality and holds promise for high accuracy in diagnosis of obstructive CAD. Implementation of this approach has the potential to serve as an alternative to current methods thus increasing the accessibility to offer high-quality QP CMR imaging by a wide range of CMR laboratories.

Kiosk 9R-FB-08 - Quantitative Perfusion Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Clinical Implementation of a Simplified Dual-bolus Workflow

Kiosk 9R-FB-08 - Quantitative Perfusion Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Clinical Implementation of a Simplified Dual-bolus Workflow

Microvascular dysfunction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: diagnostic role of noninvasive, fully automated quantitative perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging.

Microvascular dysfunction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: diagnostic role of noninvasive, fully automated quantitative perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging.

Radiomics analysis enhances the diagnostic performance of CMR stress perfusion: a proof-of-concept study using the Dan-NICAD dataset.

To assess the feasibility of extracting radiomics signal intensity based features from the myocardium using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging stress perfusion sequences. Furthermore, to compare the diagnostic performance of radiomics models against standard-of-care qualitative visual assessment of stress perfusion images, with the ground truth stenosis label being defined by invasive Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) and quantitative coronary angiography. We used the Dan-NICAD 1 dataset, a multi-centre study with coronary computed tomography angiography, 1,5 T CMR stress perfusion, and invasive FFR available for a subset of 148 patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Image segmentation was performed by two independent readers. We used the Pyradiomics platform to extract radiomics first-order (n = 14) and texture (n = 75) features from the LV myocardium (basal, mid, apical) in rest and stress perfusion images. Overall, 92 patients (mean age 62 years, 56 men) were included in the study, 39 with positive FFR. We double-cross validated the model and, in each inner fold, we trained and validated a per territory model. The conventional analysis results reported sensitivity of 41% and specificity of 84%. Our final radiomics model demonstrated an improvement on these results with an average sensitivity of 53% and specificity of 86%. In this proof-of-concept study from the Dan-NICAD dataset, we demonstrate the feasibility of radiomics analysis applied to CMR perfusion images with a suggestion of superior diagnostic performance of radiomics models over conventional visual analysis of perfusion images in picking up perfusion defects defined by invasive coronary angiography.

Diagnostic accuracy of stress CMR to evaluate chronic coronary syndromes: an updated meta-analysis

Abstract Background Stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is utilised for the evaluation of patients with stable chest pain and intermediate or high pre-test likelihood of coronary artery disease (CAD). Purpose To provide an updated synthesis of diagnostic accuracy of stress CMR imaging for the diagnosis of anatomically and functionally significant CAD in patients with stable chest pain and suspected or known CAD. Methods After prospective registration and approval of the study protocol, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published between 2000 through 2021, enrolling ≥100 patients, and reporting on the diagnostic accuracy of stress CMR imaging to diagnose anatomically and functionally significant CAD with invasive coronary angiography (ICA) or ICA and fractional flow reserve (FFR <0.80) as the reference standard. The novel split component synthesis method was used through the SCSmeta function in R. The meta-analysis yielded pooled diagnostic indicators including diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (pLR), negative likelihood ratio (nLR) and area under the curve (AUC). Results We identified a total of 32 studies pooling an overall population of 7,678 individuals (mean age 62 years, 70% males, CAD prevalence 52%). Compared with ICA (29 studies, 7,360 patients), stress CMR yielded a pooled DOR of 19.2 (95% CI: 12.5–29.4), a sensitivity of 84% (95% CI: 79–88%), a specificity of 79% (95% CI: 73–84%), a pLR of 3.9 (95% CI: 3.0–5.3), a nLR of 0.2 (95% CI: 0.2–0.3), and an AUC of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.78–0.84) for the detection of anatomically obstructive CAD. Compared with ICA and FFR (8 studies, 1,196 patients), stress CMR yielded a pooled DOR of 26.4 (95% CI: 10.6–65.9), a sensitivity of 81% (95% CI: 68–89), a specificity of 86% (95% CI: 75–93%), a pLR of 5.8 (95% CI: 3.0–11.4), a nLR of 0.2 (95% CI: 0.1–0.4), and an AUC of 0.84 (0.77–0.89) for the detection of functionally obstructive CAD. Higher diagnostic accuracy was observed for 3 Tesla myocardial perfusion imaging studies to detect both anatomically and functionally obstructive CAD, with pooled DORs of 24.3 and 33.2, respectively. Conclusions In patients with stable chest pain and known or suspected CAD, stress CMR imaging yields high diagnostic accuracy to detect both anatomically and functionally obstructive CAD. Stress CMR perfusion imaging at 3 Tesla is to be associated with overall greater diagnostic accuracy. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Cardiac MRI assessment of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity.

The objective of this review article is to discuss how cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging measures left ventricular (LV) function, characterizes tissue, and identifies myocardial fibrosis in patients receiving anthracycline-based chemotherapy (Anth-bC). Specifically, CMR can measure LV ejection fraction (EF), volumes at end-diastole (LVEDV), and end-systole (LVESV), LV strain, and LV mass. Tissue characterization is accomplished through T1/T2-mapping, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), and CMR perfusion imaging. Despite CMR’s accuracy and efficiency in collecting data about the myocardium, there are challenges that persist while monitoring a cardio-oncology patient undergoing Anth-bC, such as the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors and utility controversies. Furthermore, CMR can be a useful adjunct during cardiopulmonary exercise testing to pinpoint cardiovascular mediated exercise limitations, as well as to assess myocardial microcirculatory damage in patients undergoing Anth-bC.

Correlation and mechanism between cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and oral streptococcus count in patients with primary microvascular angina pectoris.

Although primary microvascular angina (PMVA) can be diagnosed clinically, the etiology and pathophysiology of PMVA remain unclear. The effects of conventional clinical medications (aspirin, statins, and nitrates) are unsatisfactory, and PMVA can lead to serious cardiovascular events. The present study was designed to analyze the correlation between the load perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) results and the Streptococcus sanguinis(S sanguinis) count and the correlations between the S sanguinis count in oral cavity subgingival plaque and changes in the plasma levels of platelet alpha-granule membrane glycoprotein 140 (GMP-140), fibrinopeptide A (FPA), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and homocysteine (Hcy) in patients with PMVA after increased anti-infective treatment of the oral cavity. This study also discusses the pathogenesis of PMVA from this perspective. The differences in the S sanguinis count in oral cavity subgingival plaque and oral health status between healthy people and PMVA patients will be compared, and the correlation between the oral cavity health status and disease in PMVA patients will be analyzed. The present randomized controlled trial with a parallel control group will be conducted in 68 PMVA patients diagnosed by the in-patient cardiology department. The selected patients will be randomly divided into 2 groups, one receiving routine drug treatment and the other a combination of anti-infective treatments. The normal control group will comprise 30 healthy people with no infectious oral cavity disease matched by age and sex. We will conduct CMR, and the presence of S sanguinis in subgingival plaques will be used to determine the bacterial count in PMVA patients. Blood samples will also be collected to determine the levels of GMP-140, FPA, vWF, and Hcy. S sanguinis in the subgingival plaque of PMVA patients will be further analyzed after increasing the oral cavity anti-infective treatment; the resulting changes and their correlations with changes in GMP-140, FPA, vWF, and Hcy levels will be assessed. Additionally, the differences in the S sanguinis count and the oral cavity health status of oral cavity dental plaque between healthy people and PMVA patients will be determined, and the correlation between the oral cavity conditions and PMVA will be analyzed. The relationship between the perfusion CMR results and the oral cavity S sanguinis count of PMVA patients, and the potential pathogenesis, will be explored. We will use the SPSS19.0 statistical software package to analyze the data. The measurements will be expressed as means±standard deviation. Student t test will be used for intergroup comparisons, a relative number description will be used for the count data, and the chi-square test will be used for intergroup comparisons. Multivariate logistic regression will be performed to identify associations. A P value < .05 will be considered significant. In this study, the correlation between the perfusion CMR results and the S sanguinis count in oral cavity subgingival plaque of PMVA patients will be analyzed. Changes in the levels of GMP-140, FPA, vWF, and Hcy of PMVA patients after receiving increased oral cavity anti-infective treatment will be explored, and the difference in the S sanguinis count in oral cavity subgingival plaque and the oral cavity health status between healthy people and PMVA patients will be compared. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, (http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=45091).

Stable patients with suspected myocardial ischemia: comparison of machine-learning computed tomography-based fractional flow reserve and stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to detect myocardial ischemia

BackgroundMachine-Learning Computed Tomography-Based Fractional Flow Reserve (CT-FFRML) is a novel tool for the assessment of hemodynamic relevance of coronary artery stenoses. We examined the diagnostic performance of CT-FFRML compared to stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and tested if there is an additional value of CT-FFRML over coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA).MethodsOur retrospective analysis included 269 vessels in 141 patients (mean age 67 ± 9 years, 78% males) who underwent clinically indicated cCTA and subsequent stress perfusion CMR within a period of 2 months. CT-FFRML values were calculated from standard cCTA.ResultsCT-FFRML revealed no hemodynamic significance in 79% of the patients having ≥ 50% stenosis in cCTA. Chi2 values for the statistical relationship between CT-FFRML and stress perfusion CMR was significant (p < 0.0001). CT-FFRML and cCTA (≥ 70% stenosis) provided a per patient sensitivity of 88% (95%CI 64–99%) and 59% (95%CI 33–82%); specificity of 90% (95%CI 84–95%) and 85% (95%CI 78–91%); positive predictive value of 56% (95%CI 42–69%) and 36% (95%CI 24–50%); negative predictive value of 98% (95%CI 94–100%) and 94% (95%CI 90–96%); accuracy of 90% (95%CI 84–94%) and 82% (95%CI 75–88%) when compared to stress perfusion CMR. The accuracy of cCTA (≥ 50% stenosis) was 19% (95%CI 13–27%). The AUCs were 0.89 for CT-FFRML and 0.74 for cCTA (≥ 70% stenosis) and therefore significantly different (p < 0.05).ConclusionCT-FFRML compared to stress perfusion CMR as the reference standard shows high diagnostic power in the identification of patients with hemodynamically significant coronary artery stenosis. This could support the role of cCTA as gatekeeper for further downstream testing and may reduce the number of patients undergoing unnecessary invasive workup.

Feasibility of adenosine stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance perfusion imaging in patients with MR-conditional transvenous permanent pacemakers and defibrillators

BackgroundThe use of stress perfusion-cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging remains limited in patients with implantable devices. The primary goal of the study was to assess the safety, image quality, and the diagnostic value of stress perfusion-CMR in patients with MR-conditional transvenous permanent pacemakers (PPM) or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD).MethodsConsecutive patients with a transvenous PPM or ICD referred for adenosine stress-CMR were enrolled in this single-center longitudinal study. The CMR protocol was performed using a 1.5 T system according to current guidelines while all devices were put in MR-mode. Quality of cine, late-gadolinium-enhancement (LGE), and stress perfusion sequences were assessed. An ischemia burden of ≥ 1.5 segments was considered significant. We assessed the safety, image quality and the occurrence of interference of the magnetic field with the implantable device. In case of ischemia, we also assessed the correlation with the presence of significant coronary lesions on coronary angiography.ResultsAmong 3743 perfusion-CMR examinations, 66 patients had implantable devices (1.7%). Image quality proved diagnostic in 98% of cases. No device damage or malfunction was reported immediately and at 1 year. Fifty patients were continuously paced during CMR. Heart rate and systolic blood pressure remained unchanged during adenosine stress, while diastolic blood pressure decreased (p = 0.007). Six patients (9%) had an ischemia-positive stress CMR and significant coronary stenoses were confirmed by coronary angiography in all cases.ConclusionStress perfusion-CMR is safe, allows reliable ischemia detection, and provides good diagnostic value.

Clinical Application of Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Perfusion Imaging by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

Functionally significant coronary artery disease impairs myocardial blood flow and can be detected non-invasively by myocardial perfusion imaging. While multiple myocardial perfusion imaging modalities exist, the high spatial and temporal resolution of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), combined with its freedom from ionising radiation make it an attractive option. Dynamic contrast enhanced CMR perfusion imaging has become a well-validated non-invasive tool for the assessment and risk stratification of patients with coronary artery disease and is recommended by international guidelines. This article presents an overview of CMR perfusion imaging and its clinical application, with a focus on chronic coronary syndromes, highlighting its strengths and challenges, and discusses recent advances, including the emerging role of quantitative perfusion analysis.

Accuracy of dynamic three-dimensional magnetic resonance perfusion imaging for the detection of coronary artery disease in patients with reduced ejection fraction

AbstractBackgroundTo assess the accuracy of 3D cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion imaging for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) against fractional flow reserve (FFR) and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) in patients with reduced ejection fraction (EF).MethodsOut of 447 patients who underwent 3D CMR perfusion imaging (at 1.5 and 3.0 T under adenosine stress and at rest) at 5 European centers, 86 cases with an EF ≤50% were identified (mean age 64 ± 11 yrs, 80% male). Significant CAD was defined as a FFR value &lt;0.8 and a QCA &gt;50%. 86 individuals matched for age, gender and major cardiovascular risk factors, were chosen as the control group.ResultsThe prevalence of CAD defined by FFR (&lt;0.8) was 59% (EF≤50%) vs. 54% (EF&gt;50%), P = 0.4). In relation to FFR, 3D perfusion imaging yielded a sensitivity of 84.5% (95% CI 76.0–90.4) and specificity of 77.3% (95% CI 66.7–85.3). The sensitivity of perfusion imaging was higher in patients with an EF≤50% (90.2 vs. 78.3%, P = 0.1) whereas specificity showed the reverse (62.9 vs. 90.0%, P = 0.005) The diagnostic accuracy was comparable in both subgroups (AUC 79.1 vs. 83.7%, P = 0.25). According to QCA, the prevalence of CAD was 78 vs. 72% (P = 0.4). Perfusion imaging yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 82.1 vs. 62.9%, P = 0.01 and 79.0 vs. 95.8%, P = 0.09 respectively with a high diagnostic accuracy in both subgroups (AUC 82.0 vs. 80.5%).Conclusion3D-CMR perfusion imaging yields a high sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy with regards to the detection of significant CAD irrespective of left ventricular (LV) systolic function.

Stress perfusion CMR provides strong long-term prognostic value to cardiac events irrespective of patient sex

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. BACKGROUND Compelling evidence indicates that women with coronary artery disease (CAD) experience worse outcomes than men due to a lack of early diagnosis and management. Numerous clinical studies have shown that stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) detects evidence of myocardial ischemia and infarction at high accuracy. However, long-term prognosis data are limited. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that stress perfusion CMR imaging can provide robust prognostic value in women presenting with suspected ischemia, to the same extent as in men. METHODS Consecutive patients referred for vasodilator stress perfusion CMR with dipyridamole were followed for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) defined as cardiovascular death or non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI). The secondary endpoint was cardiovascular death. The safety of the CMR was assessed by clinical monitoring for 1 hour after the end of the CMR. Univariable and multivariable Cox regressions for MACE were performed to determine the prognostic value of inducible ischemia or late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) by CMR in each sex. RESULTS Of 3436 patients referred for stress CMR in a single French center, 3322 (97%) completed the CMR protocol (59.9 ± 11.8 years, 57% men), and among those 3033 (91%) completed the follow-up (median follow-up 5.4 ± 0.2 years). Reasons for failure to complete CMR included renal failure (n = 29), claustrophobia (n = 26), poor gating (n = 22), intolerance to stress agent (n = 19) and declining participation (n = 18). Stress CMR was well tolerated without occurrence of death or severe disabling adverse event. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the presence of inducible myocardial ischemia identified the occurrence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 2.36 ; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.54–3.62; p &amp;lt; 0.001) and men (HR 3.57 ; 95% confidence interval CI: 2.75 – 4.64; p &amp;lt; 0.001) (Figure). Moreover, inducible ischemia was associated with cardiovascular death for both women (hazard ratio HR 1.92; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.12 – 2.74; p = 0.04) and men (HR 2.71 ; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.98 – 4.41; p &amp;lt; 0.001). In a multivariable stepwise Cox regression including clinical characteristics and CMR, presence of inducible ischemia was an independent predictor of a higher incidence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 1.85 ; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.18 – 2.92; p = 0.008) and men (HR 3.55 ; 95% confidence interval CI: 2.73 – 4.63; p &amp;lt; 0.001). Moreover, inducible ischemia was associated with cardiovascular death for men (HR 1.99; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.65 – 3.01; p &amp;lt; 0.01) but not for women (p = 0.11). CONCLUSION Stress CMR is feasible, safe and has a good discriminative prognostic value to predict the occurrence of MACE in patients of either sex presenting with inducible ischemia. However, inducible ischemia is an independent predictor of a higher incidence of CV mortality only in men. Abstract Figure.

Clinical associations with stage B heart failure in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Background:There is a high prevalence of asymptomatic (American Heart Association Stage B) heart failure (SBHF) in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). We aimed to identify associations between clinical characteristics and markers of SBHF in adults with T2D, which may allow therapeutic interventions prior to symptom onset.Methods:Adults with T2D from a multi-ethnic population with no prevalent cardiovascular disease [n = 247, age 52 ± 12 years, glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) 7.4 ± 1.1% (57 ± 12 mmol/mol), duration of diabetes 61 (32, 120) months] underwent echocardiography and adenosine stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to identify independent associations between clinical characteristics and markers of SBHF.Results:In a series of multivariable linear regression models containing age, sex, ethnicity, smoking history, number of glucose-lowering agents, systolic blood pressure (BP) duration of diabetes, body mass index (BMI), HbA1c, serum creatinine, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, independent associations with: left ventricular mass:volume were age (β = 0.024), number of glucose-lowering agents (β = 0.022) and systolic BP (β = 0.027); global longitudinal strain were never smoking (β = −1.196), systolic BP (β = 0.328), and BMI (β = −0.348); myocardial perfusion reserve were age (β = −0.364) and male sex (β = 0.458); and aortic distensibility were age (β = −0.629) and systolic BP (β = −0.348). HbA1c was not independently associated with any marker of SBHF.Conclusions:In asymptomatic adults with T2D, age, systolic BP, BMI, and smoking history, but not glycaemic control, are the major determinants of SBHF. Given BP and BMI are modifiable, these may be important targets to reduce the development of symptomatic heart failure.

Automated Segmental Analysis of Fully Quantitative Myocardial Blood Flow Maps by First-Pass Perfusion Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

First pass gadolinium-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion imaging allows fully quantitative pixel-wise myocardial blood flow (MBF) assessment, with proven diagnostic value for coronary artery disease. Segmental analysis requires manual segmentation of the myocardium. This work presents a fully automatic method of segmenting the left ventricular myocardium from MBF pixel maps, validated on a retrospective dataset of 247 clinical CMR perfusion studies, each including rest and stress images of three slice locations, performed on a 1.5T scanner. Pixel-wise MBF maps were segmented using an automated pipeline including region growing, edge detection, principal component analysis, and active contours to segment the myocardium, detect key landmarks, and divide the myocardium into sectors appropriate for analysis. Automated segmentation results were compared against a manually defined reference standard using three quantitative metrics: Dice coefficient, Cohen Kappa and myocardial border distance. Sector-wise average MBF and myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) were compared using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman Plots. The proposed method segmented stress and rest MBF maps of 243 studies automatically. Automated and manual myocardial segmentation had an average (± standard deviation) Dice coefficient of 0.86 ± 0.06, Cohen Kappa of 0.86 ± 0.06, and Euclidian distances of 1.47 ± 0.73 mm and 1.02 ± 0.51 mm for the epicardial and endocardial border, respectively. Automated and manual sector-wise MBF and MPR values correlated with Pearson’s coefficient of 0.97 and 0.92, respectively, while Bland-Altman analysis showed bias of 0.01 and 0.07 ml/g/min. The validated method has been integrated with our fully automated MBF pixel mapping pipeline to aid quantitative assessment of myocardial perfusion CMR.

Stress Perfusion Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Provides Strong Long-term Prognostic Value to Cardiac Events Irrespective of Patient Sex

Compelling evidence indicates that women with coronary artery disease (CAD) experience worse outcomes than men due to a lack of early diagnosis and management. Numerous clinical studies have shown the interest of stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). However, long-term prognosis data are limited. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that stress perfusion CMR imaging can provide robust prognostic value in women presenting with suspected ischemia, to the same extent as in men. Consecutive patients referred for vasodilator stress perfusion CMR with dipyridamole were followed for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) defined as cardiovascular death or non-fatal myocardial infarction. Univariable and multivariable Cox regressions for MACE were performed to determine the prognostic value of inducible ischemia or late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). Of 3436 patients referred for stress CMR in a single French center, 3322 (97 %) completed the CMR protocol (59.9 ± 11.8 years, 57 % men), and among those 3033 (91 %) completed the follow-up (median follow-up 5.4 ± 0.2 years). Stress CMR was well tolerated without severe adverse event. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the presence of myocardial ischemia identified the occurrence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 2.36; 95 % confidence interval CI: 1.54–3.62; P < 0.001) and men (HR 3.57; 95 % confidence interval CI: 2.75–4.64; P < 0.001) ( Fig. 1 ). In a multivariable stepwise Cox regression including clinical characteristics and CMR, inducible ischemia was an independent predictor of a higher incidence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 1.85; 95 % confidence interval CI: 1.18–2.92; P = 0.008) and men (HR 3.55; 95 % confidence interval CI: 2.73–4.63; P < 0.001). Stress CMR is feasible, safe and has a good discriminative prognostic value to predict the occurrence of MACE in patients of either sex presenting with inducible ischemia.

Stress perfusion CMR provides strong long-term prognostic value to cardiac events irrespective of patient sex

Abstract Background Compelling evidence indicates that women with coronary artery disease (CAD) experience worse outcomes than men due to a lack of early diagnosis and management. Numerous clinical studies have shown that stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) detects evidence of myocardial ischemia and infarction at high accuracy. However, long-term prognosis data are limited. Purpose The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that stress perfusion CMR imaging can provide robust prognostic value in women presenting with suspected ischemia, to the same extent as in men. Material Consecutive patients referred for vasodilator stress perfusion CMR with dipyridamole were followed for the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) defined as cardiovascular death or non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI). The secondary endpoint was cardiovascular death. The safety of the CMR was assessed by clinical monitoring for 1 hour after the end of the CMR. Univariable and multivariable Cox regressions for MACE were performed to determine the prognostic value of inducible ischemia or late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) by CMR in each sex. Results Of 3436 patients referred for stress CMR in a single French center, 3322 (97%) completed the CMR protocol (59.9±11.8 years, 57% men), and among those 3033 (91%) completed the follow-up (median follow-up 5.4±0.2 years). Reasons for failure to complete CMR included renal failure (n=29), claustrophobia (n=26), poor gating (n=22), intolerance to stress agent (n=19) and declining participation (n=18). Stress CMR was well tolerated without occurrence of death or severe disabling adverse event. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, the presence of inducible myocardial ischemia identified the occurrence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 2.36; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.54–3.62; p&amp;lt;0.001) and men (HR 3.57; 95% confidence interval CI: 2.75–4.64; p&amp;lt;0.001) (Figure). Moreover, inducible ischemia was associated with cardiovascular death for both women (hazard ratio HR 1.92; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.12–2.74; p=0.04) and men (HR 2.71; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.98–4.41; p&amp;lt;0.001). In a multivariable stepwise Cox regression including clinical characteristics and CMR, presence of inducible ischemia was an independent predictor of a higher incidence of MACE for both women (hazard ratio HR 1.85; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.18–2.92; p=0.008) and men (HR 3.55; 95% confidence interval CI: 2.73–4.63; p&amp;lt;0.001). Moreover, inducible ischemia was associated with cardiovascular death for men (HR 1.99; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.65–3.01; p&amp;lt;0.01) but not for women (p=0.11). Conclusion Stress CMR is feasible, safe and has a good discriminative prognostic value to predict the occurrence of MACE in patients of either sex presenting with inducible ischemia. However, inducible ischemia is an independent predictor of a higher incidence of CV mortality only in men. Kaplan-Meier curves for MACE in each sex Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Stress Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Stable Chest Pain Syndromes

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare, using results from the multicenter SPINS (Stress CMR Perfusion Imaging in the United States) study, the incremental cost-effectiveness of a stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)–first strategy against 4 other clinical strategies for patients with stable symptoms suspicious for myocardial ischemia: 1) immediate x-ray coronary angiography (XCA) with selective fractional flow reserve for all patients; 2) single-photon emission computed tomography; 3) coronary computed tomographic angiography with selective computed tomographic fractional flow reserve; and 4) no imaging. BackgroundStress CMR perfusion imaging has established excellent diagnostic utility and prognostic value in coronary artery disease (CAD), but its cost-effectiveness in current clinical practice has not been well studied in the United States. MethodsA decision analytic model was developed to project health care costs and lifetime quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for symptomatic patients at presentation with a 32.4% prevalence of obstructive CAD. Rates of clinical events, costs, and quality-of-life values were estimated from SPINS and other published research. The analysis was conducted from a U.S. health care system perspective, with health and cost outcomes discounted annually at 3%. ResultsUsing hard cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death or acute myocardial infarction) as the endpoint, total costs per person were lowest for the no-imaging strategy ($16,936) and highest for the immediate XCA strategy ($20,929). Lifetime QALYs were lowest for the no-imaging strategy (12.72050) and highest for the immediate XCA strategy (12.76535). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the CMR-based strategy compared with the no-imaging strategy was $52,000/QALY, whereas the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the immediate XCA strategy was $12 million/QALY compared with CMR. Results were sensitive to variations in model inputs for prevalence of disease, hazard rate ratio for treatment of CAD, and annual discount rate. ConclusionsPrior to invasive XCA, stress CMR can be a cost-effective gatekeeping tool in patients at risk for obstructive CAD in the United States. (Stress CMR Perfusion Imaging in the United States [SPINS] Study; NCT03192891

392Systematic review and meta-analysis on the diagnostic accuracy for the detection of relevant coronary artery stenosis of vasodilator myocardial perfusion CMR and dobutamine stress echocardiography

Abstract Background Relevance of coronary artery stenosis in patients with stabile coronary artery disease (SCAD) is defined by myocardial ischemia due to flow limitation. While FFR-guided treatment of SCAD is a class IA recommendation. The initial risk stratification with detection of relevant CAD can be facilitated by several myocardial imaging methods without any preference mentioned in current guidelines. Objectives This study aimed to systematically assess and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of vasodilator myocardial perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (pCMR) and dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) for the non-invasive detection of relevant SCAD through a meta-analysis, to enable an evidential preference in risk stratification. In contrast to previously published work, this meta-analysis explicitly included only studies with rigorous eligibility criteria and a narrowly prespecified definition of their invasive reference tests. Selection criteria A study was included if (1) CCA or FFR was used as a reference standard for diagnosing relevant SCAD, defined as &gt;70% stenosis or a value &lt;0.80 on FFR recordings, respectively; (2) sufficient data to permit analysis and to reconstruct contingency tables (explicitly true-positive, false-positive, false-negative and true-negative findings) was provided; (3) there was a minimal sample size of 20 patients; (4) assessment of myocardial perfusion reserve was performed using vasodilators adenosine or regadenoson for pCMR, and dobutamine used for echocardiography; and (5) the studies were of prospective design. Data collection and analysis: From the 5,634 studies identified, 1,306 relevant articles were selected after title screening. Just 47 fulfilled all inclusion criteria on full-text review, resulting in a total sample size of 4,742 patients. Data extraction was performed for each study by two reviewers independently.Pooled analysis was performed based on a random effects models. Results The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) for pCMR were 0.88 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85–0.90), 0.84 (95% CI: 0.81–0.87), and 38 (95% CI: 29–49), and for DSE 0.72 (95% CI: 0.61–0.81), 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83–0.93), and 20 (95% CI: 9–46), respectively. Post-test probability was augmented by positive (likelihood ratio) LR of 5.5 (95% CI: 4.7–6.5) and negative LR of 0.14 (95% CI: 0.12–0.18) based on Bayes' theorem, as compared to LR of 6.3 (95% CI: 3.8, 10.4) and negative LR of 0.31 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.46) for DSE. The size of the prediction region on the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) plot for pCMR (0.29; 95% CI 0.11–0.77) was significantly smaller compared to the one of DSE (1.07; 95% CI 0.27–4.19; p&lt;0.01). Forrest plot pCMR Conclusion The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis show that pCMR is characterized by a superior diagnostic test accuracy of relevant SCAD compared to DSE and that it can refine the post-test probability of SCAD. Acknowledgement/Funding European Heart Academy of the European Society of Cardiology

Long-Term Prognostic Value of Stress Perfusion Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The purpose of this review is to analyze the long-term prognostic value of stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD). Stress perfusion CMR provides high diagnostic accuracy for detection of CAD, with high sensitivity and relatively lower specificity. A normal stress perfusion CMR examination is highly predictive of overall low patient risk. Conversely, abnormal stress perfusion CMR results are associated with mortality and increased risk for adverse cardiac-related events. Stress perfusion CMR is a useful and robust tool for risk reclassification across different CAD risk categories, and most significant for patients of intermediate risk. Stress CMR is reliable for excluding clinically significant coronary artery disease in patients presenting with low-risk acute chest pain. An ischemic burden threshold of less than 1.5 cardiac segments has been found to be most appropriate for safe deferral from revascularization therapy. A stress perfusion CMR-guided strategy has been shown to be noninferior compared to fractional flow reserve (FFR) for revascularization in patients with stable CAD. In clinical practice, CMR offers a multiplicity of useful techniques besides stress perfusion which may add significant prognostic value when combined with the findings of the stress test itself. Stress perfusion CMR is an accurate noninvasive diagnostic test for patients with suspected CAD and provides strong prognostic value across different risk categories.