Role Of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Research Articles

The emerging role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the evaluation of cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis

Abstract Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune rheumatic disease, characterized by vascular, inflammatory and fibrotic alterations. Cardiac involvement is the « fatal tip of the iceberg» in SSc, as it leads to high morbidity/mortality. Cardiovascular imaging modalities play an important role in the early diagnosis and treatment assessment of cardiac involvement. Echocardiography is the corner stone for evaluation of cardiac involvement, providing information about function, wall motion, pulmonary pressure, pericardium and valvular disease. It is a low-cost modality, widely available, without radiation and with great experience among cardiologists. However, it is a window and operator dependent modality and cannot provide tissue characterization information, absolutely necessary for diagnosis and treatment of cardiac involvement in SSc. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) can perform myocardial function and tissue characterization in the same examination without radiation, has excellent reproducibility and is window and operator independent. The great advantage of CMR is the capability to assess peri- myo-vascular inflammation, myocardial ischemia and presence of replacement and diffuse myocardial fibrosis in parallel with ventricular function assessment. The modified Lake Louise criteria including T2, native T1 mapping and extracellular volume fraction (ECV) has been recently used to diagnose inflammatory cardiomyopathy. According to expert recommendations, myocardial inflammation should be considered if at least 2 indices, one T2 and one T1 parameter are positive, whereas native T1 mapping and ECV assess diffuse fibrosis or oedema, even in the absence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). Moreover, transmural/subendocardial LGE following the distribution of coronary arteries and diffuse subendocardial fibrosis not related with epicardial coronary arteries are indicative of epicardial and micro-vascular coronary artery disease, respectively. To conclude, CMR can overcome the limitations of echocardiography by identifying acute/active or chronic myocardial inflammation/fibrosis, ischemia and myocardial infarction using classic and parametric indices in parallel with biventricular function assessment

Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Cardiac Amyloidosis: A Narrative Review.

Amyloidosis is a rare infiltrative condition resulting from the extracellular accumulation of amyloid fibrils at the cardiac level. It can be an acquired condition or due to genetic mutations. With the progression of imaging technologies, a non-invasive diagnosis was proposed. In this study, we discuss the role of CMR in cardiac amyloidosis, focusing on the two most common subtypes (AL and ATTR), waiting for evidence-based guidelines to be published.

Kiosk 4R-FC-01 - The Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Competitive Athletes: Prognostic Value of Advanced Techniques

Kiosk 4R-FC-01 - The Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Competitive Athletes: Prognostic Value of Advanced Techniques

Kiosk 6R-FA-02 - Advancing Subclinical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Diagnosis: The Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Based Radiomics and Machine Learning

Kiosk 6R-FA-02 - Advancing Subclinical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Diagnosis: The Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Based Radiomics and Machine Learning

Kiosk 3Q-TA-02 - A Case of Cardiac Tamponade Caused by a Rare Primary Cardiac Ewing Sarcoma: The Crucial Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in the Context of a Multimodality Imaging Approach

Kiosk 3Q-TA-02 - A Case of Cardiac Tamponade Caused by a Rare Primary Cardiac Ewing Sarcoma: The Crucial Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in the Context of a Multimodality Imaging Approach

Editor’s choice to the april 2023 issue

Editor’s choice to the april 2023 issue

The evolving role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the assessment of mitral valve prolapse.

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP), characterized by a displacement > 2 mm above the mitral annulus of one or both bileaflets, with or without leaflet thickening, is a common valvular heart disease, with a prevalence of approximately 2% in western countries. Although this population has a generally good overall prognosis, MVP can be associated with mitral regurgitation (MR), left ventricular (LV) remodeling leading to heart failure, ventricular arrhythmia, and, the most devastating complication, sudden cardiac death, especially in myxomatous bileaflet prolapse (Barlow's disease). Among several prognostic factors reported in the literature, LV fibrosis and mitral annular disjunction may act as an arrhythmogenic substrate in this population. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has emerged as a reliable tool for assessing MVP, MR severity, LV remodeling, and fibrosis. Indeed, CMR is the gold standard imaging modality to assess ventricular volume, function, and wall motion abnormalities; it allows accurate calculation of the regurgitant volume and regurgitant fraction in MR using a combination of LV volumetric measurement and aortic flow quantification, independent of regurgitant jet morphology and valid in cases of multiple valvulopathies. Moreover, CMR is a unique imaging modality that can assess non-invasively focal and diffuse fibrosis using late gadolinium enhancement sequences and, more recently, T1 mapping. This review describes the use of CMR in patients with MVP and its role in identifying patients at high risk of ventricular arrhythmia.

Role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the clinical evaluation of left ventricular hypertrophy: a 360° panorama.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a frequent imaging finding in the general population. In order to identify the precise etiology, a comprehensive diagnostic approach should be adopted, including the prevalence of each entity that may cause LVH, family history, clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging findings. By providing a detailed evaluation of the myocardium, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has assumed a central role in the differential diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy, with the technique of parametric imaging allowing more refined tissue characterization. This article aims to establish a parallel between pathophysiological features and imaging findings through the broad spectrum of LVH entities, emphasizing the role of CMR in the differential diagnosis.

Response to 'Is the left atrium the key in the amyloid imaging lock?'

We thank Dr Bart for her commentary on our paper.1 The echocardiogram is the first-line imaging technique in patients with suspected cardiac amyloidosis (CA).2 Speckle-tracking analysis of the left ventricle should be systematically performed, as the apical sparing pattern is strongly suggestive of CA, particularly in individuals with unexplained hypertrophy.2 In patients in sinus rhythm, the left atrial (LA) function may be studies by calculating the peak LA longitudinal strain (PALS), which reflects the reservoir function, and peak LA contraction strain (PACS), which explores the contractile function of the LA. In our study, we reported that both PALS and PACS are severely depressed in patients with amyloid transthyretin (ATTR) CA.3 The mechanisms are (i) a progressive dilation and remodelling of the LA, due to diastolic dysfunction and leading to a depressed LA contractility, and (ii) amyloid deposition in the atrial walls, with an expansion of extracellular spaces and cardiomyocyte dysfunction. Structural and functional remodelling of the LA is more prominent in ATTR-CA, which is a slowly progressive disease, than in amyloid light-chain (AL)-CA, which has a more rapid progression.3 We agree with Dr Bart that this difference between ATTR- and AL-CA may be useful for the purposes of differential diagnosis. The exact role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the diagnostic workup of CA has not been standardized yet, but CMR may implement baseline examination in patients with suspected CA. Several techniques (feature tracking, tagging, and tissue-phase contrast) allow to track the motion of LA throughout the cardiac cycle and represent the CMR equivalents of speckle-tracking imaging. The study cited by Dr Bart investigated the value of CMR-based LA strain in 54 patients with CA (30 AL and 24 ATTR), reporting a lower LA function in patients with ATTR vs. AL despite no significant differences in LA geometry.4 These findings are in agreement with our study.1 Echo- or CMR-based LA strain might then help differentiate AL- from ATTR-CA among patients starting the diagnostic workup for suspected CA. On the other hand, further investigations (cardiac scintigraphy with bone tracers, search for a monoclonal protein, and often histological analyses) are still needed to confirm the diagnosis of CA and its subtype, in agreement with the current algorithm.1 Beyond its possible diagnostic value, we think that LA strain might prove helpful for risk stratification and to track disease evolution. A more depressed LA strain is reasonably associated with more blood stasis and a greater risk of atrial thrombosis, and could then suggest the potential need for an anticoagulant therapy even when there is no history of atrial fibrillation.1,2 As for the second point, LA strain has a close association with disease severity and is highly reproducible, meaning that a deterioration of LA strain over time reflects disease progression, while unchanged or improved values over times may mirror the stabilizing or positive effects of disease-modifying therapies.5 In summary, LA strain could really become a ‘key in the amyloid imaging lock’.

Role of Cardiovascular Imaging in the Follow-Up of Patients with Fontan Circulation.

Since its first description in 1971, the Fontan procedure and its modifications have led to a substantial improvement in the survival rates of patients with a variety of types of complex Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) characterised by the presence of a single, dominant ventricle. However, despite the significant improvement of the prognosis over the years, Fontan patients are still exposed to several cardiovascular and systemic complications. It is, therefore, important to fully understand the pitfalls hidden behind a Fontan anatomy and the potential predictors of ventricular failure. Cardiovascular imaging plays a key role in this context, allowing for the early identification of complications with important prognostic implications. Echocardiography remains the first-line imaging modality for serial evaluation of Fontan patients. However, there is a growing role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance and cardiac computed tomography from pre-operative assessment to longitudinal follow-up. The aim of this paper will be to provide a comprehensive overview of the role, strengths, and weaknesses of each imaging modality in the assessment of congenital cardiac conditions palliated with the Fontan procedure.

The Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Patients with Mitral Regurgitation.

The 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study estimated that there were approximately 24.2 million people affected worldwide by degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR), resulting in 34,200 deaths. After aortic stenosis, MR is the most prevalent VHD in Europe and the second-most common VHD to pose indications for surgery in western countries. Current ESC and AHA/ACC guidelines for the management of VHD emphasize the importance of an integrative approach for the assessment of MR severity, which is of paramount importance in dictating the timing for surgery. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) are the first-line imaging modalities; however, despite the technological advancement, sometimes, the final diagnosis on the degree of the disease may still be challenging. In the last 20 years, CMR has emerged as a robust technique in the assessment of patients with cardiac disease, and, recently, its role is gaining more and more importance in the field of VHD. In fact, CMR is the gold standard in the assessment of cardiac volumes, and it is possible to accurately evaluate the regurgitant volume. The purpose of this review is to outline the current state-of-the-art management of MR by using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR).

Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation: A Review.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, and its prevalence is growing with time. Since the introduction of catheter ablation procedures for the treatment of AF, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has had an increasingly important role for the treatment of this pathology both in clinical practice and as a research tool to provide insight into the arrhythmic substrate. The most common applications of CMR for AF catheter ablation are the angiographic study of the pulmonary veins, the sizing of the left atrium (LA), and the evaluation of the left atrial appendage (LAA) for stroke risk assessment. Moreover, CMR may provide useful information about esophageal anatomical relationship to LA to prevent thermal injuries during ablation procedures. The use of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging allows to evaluate the burden of atrial fibrosis before the ablation procedure and to assess procedural induced scarring. Recently, the possibility to assess atrial function, strain, and the burden of cardiac adipose tissue with CMR has provided more elements for risk stratification and clinical decision making in the setting of catheter ablation planning of AF. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential applications of CMR in the workup of ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation.

MINOCA-myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries

Myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) accounts for 5-10% of all presentations of acute myocardial infarction. To outline the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with suspected MINOCA. Current guidelines for the use of CMR in suspected MINOCA are summarized. Clinical cases with typical CMR findings are presented. In 2019, the American Heart Association published arevised definition of the term MINOCA, which was recently adopted in the European Society of Cardiology 2020 guidelines on acute coronary syndromes without persistent ST-segment elevation (NSTE-ACS). The guidelines indicate that aCMR is recommended (class1B) in all MINOCA cases with no obvious cause. The major strength of CMR imaging is to differentiate nonischemic from ischemic etiologies of myocardial injury. This makes CMR the most important noninvasive diagnostic tool for the differential diagnosis of patients with suspected MINOCA.

Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Native Valvular Regurgitation: A Comprehensive Review of Protocols, Grading of Severity, and Prediction of Valve Surgery.

Valvular regurgitation is common in developed countries with an increasing prevalence due to the aging of the population and more accurate diagnostic imaging methods. Echocardiography is the gold standard method for the assessment of the severity of valvular heart regurgitation. Nonetheless, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has emerged as an additional tool for assessing mainly the severity of aortic and mitral valve regurgitation in the setting of indeterminate findings by echocardiography. Moreover, CMR is a valuable imaging modality to assess ventricular volume and flow, which are useful in the calculation of regurgitant volume and regurgitant fraction of mitral valve regurgitation, aortic valve regurgitation, tricuspid valve regurgitation, and pulmonary valve regurgitation. Notwithstanding this, reference values and optimal thresholds to determine the severity and prognosis of valvular heart regurgitation have been studied lesser by CMR than by echocardiography. Hence, further larger studies are warranted to validate the potential prognostic relevance of the severity of valvular heart regurgitation determined by CMR. The present review describes, analyzes, and discusses the use of CMR to determine the severity of valvular heart regurgitation in clinical practice.

Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance to Assess Cardiovascular Inflammation.

Cardiovascular inflammatory diseases still represent a challenge for physicians. Inflammatory cardiomyopathy, pericarditis, and large vessels vasculitis can clinically mimic a wide spectrum of diseases. While the underlying etiologies are varied, the common physio-pathological process is characterized by vasodilation, exudation, leukocytes infiltration, cell damage, and fibrosis. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) allows the visualization of some of these diagnostic targets. CMR provides not only morphological and functional assessment but also tissue catheterization revealing edema, hyperemia, tissue injury, and reparative fibrosis through T2 weighted images, early and late gadolinium enhancement, and parametric mapping techniques. Recent developments showed the role of CMR in the identification of ongoing inflammation also in other CV diseases like myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, arrhythmogenic and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Future developments of CMR, aiming at the specific assessment of immune cell infiltration, will give deeper insight into cardiovascular inflammatory diseases.

Contemporary family screening in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

AimsGenetic testing in relatives of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients leads to early identification of pathogenic DNA variant carriers (G+), before the onset of left ventricular hypertrophy. Routine phenotyping consists of electrocardiography (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has become valuable in the work-up of HCM. In this study, we investigated the value of CMR in phenotyping of G+ family members.Methods and resultsThis study included 91 G+ subjects who underwent ECG, TTE and CMR, with a maximal wall thickness (MWT) <15 mm on TTE. The relative performance of TTE and CMR regarding wall thickness measurements and HCM diagnoses was assessed. HCM was defined as MWT of ≥13 mm. Logistic regression was performed to assess whether ECG and TTE parameters can predict CMR results. Most subjects (75%) had an MWT <13 mm on TTE, of which 23 (34%) were diagnosed with HCM based on CMR. MWT differences (range 1–10 mm) were often caused by an anterobasal hook-shaped thickening of the myocardium not visible on TTE. Two of 23 (9%) subjects with HCM on TTE were reclassified as no HCM on CMR. Normal ECG and TTE results almost excluded reclassifications by CMR. The prevalence of other HCM-related abnormalities on CMR was low.ConclusionCMR reclassified 27% of subjects. Subjects with normal ECG/TTE results were reclassified in a low number of cases, justifying screening with ECG and TTE in G+ relatives. In subjects with abnormal ECGs and/or poor TTE image quality, CMR is indicated.

The role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the evaluation of acute myocarditis and inflammatory cardiomyopathies in clinical practice - a comprehensive review.

Inflammatory cardiomyopathy (I-CMP) is defined as myocarditis in association with cardiac dysfunction and/or ventricular remodelling. It is characterized by inflammatory cell infiltration into the myocardium and has heterogeneous infectious and non-infectious aetiologies. A complex interplay of genetic, autoimmune, and environmental factors contributes to the substantial risk of deteriorating cardiac function, acute heart failure, and arrhythmia as well as chronic dilated cardiomyopathy and its sequelae. Multi-parametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is sensitive to many tissue changes that occur during myocardial inflammation, regardless of its aetiology. In this review, we summarize the various aetiologies of I-CMP and illustrate how CMR contributes to non-invasive diagnosis.

The Importance of Functional and Feature-Tracking Cardiac MRI Parameters in Prediction of Adverse Cardiac Events and Cardiac Mortality in Thalassemia Patients

Despite some investigations about the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in thalassemia, there are a few studies regarding the feature-tracking (FT). We evaluated the role of T2*, functional, and FT values for the determining of adverse cardiac events (ACE). One-hundred-fifty-nine patients with thalassemia-major (49.7% female, mean-age=32 ± 9.8 year) were followed for 8 - 64 (median=36) months. CMR derived functional, FT, and T2* as well as ACE (heart failure hospitalization, cardiac mortality, pulmonary hypertension, and arrhythmias) were recorded. Also, variables were analyzed for cardiac death prediction separately. Seventeen patients (10.7%) developed ACE. The right-ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) was the strongest indicator of ACE (OR: 0.85, 95% - CI: 0.790 - 0.918; p < 0.001) and cardiac mortality (OR: 0.88, 95%-CI: 0.811 - 0.973; p=0.01). RVEF ≤ 39% and ≤ 37% predicted ACE and mortality with sensitivity of 62.5% and 71.43% and specificity of 95.77% and 93.38%, respectively. Additionally, myocardial-T2* was a predictor of mortality (OR: 0.90, 95%-CI: 0.814 - 0.999; p = 0.04). T2* ≤ 10 months predicted death with 85.71% sensitivity and 85.91% specificity. RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) was the strongest strain parameter for the indication of ACE and death (OR: 0.81, 95%-CI: 0.740 - 0.902; p < 0.001 and OR: 0.81, 95%- CI: 0.719 - 0.933; p = 0.003, respectively). RV GLS ≤ 16.43% and ≤ 15.63% determined ACE and death with sensitivity of 52.94% and 71.43% and specificity of 90%, respectively. Our results underscore the role of FT and non-contrast CMR parameters as valuable markers of ACE in thalassemia.

Role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in pediatric pulmonary hypertension-novel concepts and imaging biomarkers.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in children is a heterogenous disease of the small pulmonary arteries characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance. Despite adequate medical therapy, long-term pressure overload is frequently associated with a progressive course leading to right ventricular failure and ultimately death. Invasive hemodynamic assessment by cardiac catheterization is crucial for initial diagnosis, risk stratification and therapeutic strategy. Although echocardiography remains the most important imaging modality for the assessment of right ventricular function and pulmonary hemodynamics, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has emerged as a valuable non-invasive imaging technique that enables comprehensive evaluation of biventricular performance, blood flow, morphology and the myocardial tissue. In this review, we summarize the principles and applications of CMR in the evaluation of pediatric PH patients and present an update about novel CMR based concepts and imaging biomarkers that may provide further diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic information.

Overcoming claustrophobia in cardiovascular magnetic resonance with medical hypnosis

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background the role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance has gained the more and more importance in the field of cardiovascular disease. Claustrophobia remains a frequent cause of failure to complete a CMR. It is estimated that 2 million scans worldwide cannot be performed annually either due to premature termination or refusal of the patient to be scanned due to claustrophobia. In this setting, medical hypnosis may prove useful to overcome this main limitation. Methods we propose an observational study of consecutive patients referred to CMR and known for severe claustrophobia. Patients were proposed to undergo CMR examination with the help of medical hypnosis according to Milton H. Erickson’s method or with administration of mild sedation (lorazepam 2.5 mg). Results 20 severe claustrophobic patients were considered in the study. 1 patient was excluded due to psychiatric condition, 1 patient undergo to general anesthesia, 5 patients refused the examination. Among the 13 patients, 10 underwent medical hypnosis while 3 patients accepted to undergo to CMR examination with the administration of lorazepam 2.5 mg. All patients treated with medical hypnosis were able to complete the examination with a great tolerance and no sign of stress or anxiety were reported. CMR protocol was performed according to clinical request and was not different form non-claustrophobic patients. None of the patients treated with lorazepam 2.5mg was able to complete the exam. Conclusion we prove medical hypnosis to be safe and effective in controlling patients’ anxiety, allowing optimal diagnostic imaging quality without the need to adapt the examination. Further studies in larger populations are needed to confirm our results.