Prevalence and distribution of aortic plaque by sex and age group among community-dwelling adults.

Rationale And Objectives: Atherosclerosis of the aorta is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and vascular events. We aim to describe the prevalence and distribution of non-calcified atherosclerotic plaque in the descending aorta as quantified by noncontrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in a community-dwelling cohort of adults.

Materials And Methods: We used CMR to quantify noncalcified aortic plaque in 1726 participants (aged 65 ± 9 years, 46.

Effect of isolated left bundle-branch block on biventricular volumes and ejection fraction: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance assessment.

Background: Left bundle branch block (LBBB) is associated with abnormal left ventricular (LV) contraction, and is frequently associated with co-morbid cardiovascular disease, but the effect of an isolated (i.e. in the absence of cardiovascular dissease) LBBB on biventricular volumes and ejection fraction (EF) is not well characterized.

Right Ventricular Volumes and Systolic Function by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and the Impact of Sex, Age, and Obesity in a Longitudinally Followed Cohort Free of Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Disease: The Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance is uniquely well suited for noninvasive imaging of the right ventricle. We sought to define normal cardiac magnetic resonance reference values and to identify the main determinants of right ventricular (RV) volumes and systolic function using a modern imaging sequence in a community-dwelling, longitudinally followed cohort free of clinical cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.

Methods And Results: The Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort has been followed since 1971.

Left Ventricular Structure and Risk of Cardiovascular Events: A Framingham Heart Study Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Study.

Background: Elevated left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and concentric left ventricular (LV) remodeling are related to adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. The predictive utility of LV concentric remodeling and LV mass in the prediction of CVD events is not well characterized.

Methods And Results: Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort members without prevalent CVD (n=1715, 50% men, aged 65±9 years) underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance for LVMI and geometry (2002-2006) and were prospectively followed for incident CVD (myocardial infarction, coronary insufficiency, heart failure, stroke) or CVD death.

Risk factor differences in calcified and noncalcified aortic plaque: the Framingham Heart Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factor (RF) correlates of aortic plaque (AP) detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), which mainly shows noncalcified plaques, and by noncontrast computed tomography (CT), which best depicts calcified plaques, in community-dwelling adults.

Approach And Results: A total of 1016 Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort members (64 ± 9 years; 474 men) underwent CMR and CT of the aorta. Potential RFs for AP (age; sex; body mass index; blood pressure; low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; fasting glucose; C-reactive protein; prevalent hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking; use of antihypertensive, diabetes mellitus, or lipid-lowering drugs) were compared between participants, with zero versus nonzero AP by CMR and by CT.

Impact of age, sex, and indexation method on MR left ventricular reference values in the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort.

Purpose: To determine normative values for left ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, concentricity, and ejection fraction (EF) and investigate associations between sex, age, and body size with LV parameters in community-dwelling adults.

Materials And Methods: In all, 1794 Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort members underwent LV short-axis oriented, contiguous multislice cine steady-state free precession MR of the left ventricle; from these a healthy referent group (n = 852, 61 ± 9 years, 40% men) free of clinical cardiac disease and hypertension (SBP < 140, DBP < 90 mmHg, never used antihypertensive medication ≥30 years prior to scanning) was identified. Referent participants were stratified by sex and age group (≤55, 56-65, >65 years); LV parameters were indexed to measures of body size.

CMR reference values for left ventricular volumes, mass, and ejection fraction using computer-aided analysis: the Framingham Heart Study.

Purpose: To determine sex-specific reference values for left ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, and ejection fraction (EF) in healthy adults using computer-aided analysis and to examine the effect of age on LV parameters.

Materials And Methods: We examined data from 1494 members of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, obtained using short-axis stack cine SSFP CMR, identified a healthy reference group (without cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or LV wall motion abnormality) and determined sex-specific upper 95th percentile thresholds for LV volumes and mass, and lower 5th percentile thresholds for EF using computer-assisted border detection. In secondary analyses, we stratified participants by age-decade and tested for linear trend across age groups.

Obesity and its association to phenotype and clinical course in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on cardiac phenotypic and clinical course in a multicenter hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) cohort.

Background: It is unresolved whether clinical variables promoting left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy in the general population, such as obesity, may influence cardiac phenotypic and clinical course in patients with HCM.

Methods: In 275 adult HCM patients (age 48 ± 14 years; 70% male), we assessed the relation of BMI to LV mass, determined by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and heart failure progression.

Correlation of trabeculae and papillary muscles with clinical and cardiac characteristics and impact on CMR measures of LV anatomy and function.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the relationship of left ventricular (LV) trabeculae and papillary muscles (TPM) with clinical characteristics in a community-based, free-living adult cohort and to determine the effect of TPM on quantitative measures of LV volume, mass, and ejection fraction (EF).

Background: Hypertrabeculation has been associated with adverse cardiovascular events, but the distribution and clinical correlates of the volume and mass of the TPM in a normal left ventricle have not been well characterized.

Methods: Short-axis cine cardiac magnetic resonance images, obtained using a steady-state free precession sequence from 1,494 members of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, were analyzed with software that automatically segments TPM.

Usefulness of the left ventricular myocardial contraction fraction in healthy men and women to predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

We sought to determine whether depressed myocardial contraction fraction (MCF; ratio of left ventricular [LV] stroke volume to myocardial volume) predicts cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in initially healthy adults. A subset (n = 318, 60 ± 9 years old, 158 men) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort free of clinical CVD underwent volumetric cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in 1998 through 1999. LV ejection fraction (EF), mass, and MCF were determined.

Accurate computer-aided quantification of left ventricular parameters: experience in 1555 cardiac magnetic resonance studies from the Framingham Heart Study.

Quantitative analysis of short-axis functional cardiac magnetic resonance images can be performed using automatic contour detection methods. The resulting myocardial contours must be reviewed and possibly corrected, which can be time-consuming, particularly when performed across all cardiac phases. We quantified the impact of manual contour corrections on both analysis time and quantitative measurements obtained from left ventricular short-axis cine images acquired from 1555 participants of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort using computer-aided contour detection methods.

Relationship between central and peripheral atherosclerosis and left ventricular dysfunction in a community population.

We aimed to determine the relationships between resting left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities (WMAs), aortic plaque, and peripheral artery disease (PAD) in a community cohort. A total of 1726 Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort participants (806 males, 65 ± 9 years) underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance with quantification of aortic plaque volume and assessment of regional left ventricular systolic function. Claudication, lower extremity revascularization, and ankle-brachial index (ABI) were recorded at the most contemporaneous examination visit.

Subclinical and clinical correlates of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities in the community.

The prevalence and clinical correlates of left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities (WMAs), associated with morbidity and mortality, have not been well-characterized in the population. Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort participants (n = 1,794, 844 men, age 65 ± 9 years) underwent cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance for evaluation of LV function. A subset (n = 1,009, 460 men) underwent cardiac multidetector computed tomography for analysis of coronary artery calcium.

Cardiac index is associated with brain aging: the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Cardiac dysfunction is associated with neuroanatomic and neuropsychological changes in aging adults with prevalent cardiovascular disease, theoretically because systemic hypoperfusion disrupts cerebral perfusion, contributing to subclinical brain injury. We hypothesized that cardiac function, as measured by cardiac index, would be associated with preclinical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological markers of ischemia and Alzheimer disease in the community.

Methods And Results: Brain MRI, cardiac MRI, neuropsychological, and laboratory data were collected on 1504 Framingham Offspring Cohort participants free of clinical stroke, transient ischemic attack, or dementia (age, 61+/-9 years; 54% women).

Spectrum and clinical significance of systolic function and myocardial fibrosis assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the clinical significance attributable to the broad range of left ventricular (LV) systolic function, assessed as the ejection fraction (EF), is incompletely resolved. We evaluated the EF using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in a large cohort of patients with HCM with respect to the clinical status and evidence of left ventricular remodeling with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). CMR imaging was performed in 310 consecutive patients, aged 42 +/- 17 years.

Relations of insulin resistance and glycemic abnormalities to cardiovascular magnetic resonance measures of cardiac structure and function: the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Data regarding the relationships of diabetes, insulin resistance, and subclinical hyperinsulinemia/hyperglycemia with cardiac structure and function are conflicting. We sought to apply volumetric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in a free-living cohort to potentially clarify these associations.

Methods And Results: A total of 1603 Framingham Heart Study Offspring participants (age, 64+/-9 years; 55% women) underwent CMR to determine left ventricular mass (LVM), LVM to end-diastolic volume ratio (LVM/LVEDV), relative wall thickness (RWT), ejection fraction, cardiac output, and left atrial size.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance characterization of mitral valve prolapse.

Objectives: This study sought to develop cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) diagnostic criteria for mitral valve prolapse (MVP) using echocardiography as the gold standard and to characterize MVP using cine CMR and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)-CMR.

Background: Mitral valve prolapse is a common valvular heart disease with significant complications. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance is a valuable imaging tool for assessing ventricular function, quantifying regurgitant lesions, and identifying fibrosis, but its potential role in evaluating MVP has not been defined.

Pericardial fat, intrathoracic fat, and measures of left ventricular structure and function: the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Pericardial fat has been implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity-related cardiovascular disease. Whether the associations of pericardial fat and measures of cardiac structure and function are independent of the systemic effects of obesity and visceral adiposity has not been fully explored.

Methods And Results: Participants from the Framingham Heart Study (n=997; 54.

Differential impact of age, sex, and hypertension on aortic atherosclerosis: the Framingham Heart Study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of age, sex, and hypertension (HTN) on aortic atherosclerotic burden using cardiovascular MRI (CMR) in a free-living longitudinally followed cohort.

Methods And Results: 1763 participants (829 M and 934 F; 38 to 88 years of age) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort underwent CMR of the thoracoabdominal aorta using an ECG-gated 2D T2-weighted black-blood sequence. Of these, 1726 subjects (96%) with interpretable CMR were characterized by sex, age-quartile, and presence or absence of HTN and clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Relation between number of component views and accuracy of left ventricular mass determined by three-dimensional echocardiography.

Three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) allows the accurate determination of left ventricular (LV) mass, but the optimal number of component or extracted 2-dimensional (2D) image planes that should be used to calculate LV mass is not known. This study was performed to determine the relation between the number of 2D image planes used for 3DE and the accuracy of LV mass, using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging as the reference standard. Three-dimensional echocardiography data sets were analyzed using 4, 6, 8, 10 and 20 component 2D planes as well as biplane 2D echocardiography and CMR in 25 subjects with a variety of LV pathologies.

Cardiac structure and function in the obese: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study.

Background: Obesity is a major health problem in the Western world. Among obese subjects cardiac pathology is common, but conventional noninvasive imaging modalities are often suboptimal for detailed evaluation of cardiac structure and function. We investigated whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) can better characterize possible cardiac abnormalities associated with obesity, in the absence of other confounding comorbidities.

Age and sex distribution of subclinical aortic atherosclerosis: a magnetic resonance imaging examination of the Framingham Heart Study.

Autopsy data demonstrate a correlation between subclinical aortic atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, noninvasive cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) of subclinical atherosclerosis may provide a novel measure of cardiovascular risk, but it has not been applied to an asymptomatic population-based cohort to establish age- and sex-specific normative data. Participants in the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort who were free of clinically apparent coronary disease were randomly sampled from strata of sex, quartiles of age, and quintiles of Framingham Coronary Risk Score.

Gender differences and normal left ventricular anatomy in an adult population free of hypertension. A cardiovascular magnetic resonance study of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Objectives: We sought to derive gender-specific cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) reference values for normative left ventricular (LV) anatomy and function in a healthy adult population of clinically relevant age.

Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging is increasingly applied in the clinical setting, but age-relevant, gender-specific normative values are currently unavailable.

Methods: A representative sample of 318 Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring participants free of clinically overt cardiovascular disease underwent CMR examination to determine LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volume (EDV and ESV, respectively), mass, ejection fraction (EF) and linear dimensions (wall thickness, cavity length).