Renal artery stenosis: an innocent bystander or an independent predictor of worse outcome in patients with chronic heart failure? A magnetic resonance imaging study.

Aims: To investigate the prognostic impact of atherosclerotic renovascular disease in patients with chronic heart failure.

Methods And Results: Patients with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography. Renal artery stenosis (RAS) was defined as a luminal narrowing >50%.

Atherosclerotic disease of the abdominal aorta and its branches: prognostic implications in patients with heart failure.

Aortic atherosclerosis reduces compliance in the systemic circulation and increases peripheral resistance, afterload and left ventricular wall stress. In patients with heart failure, these changes can impair left ventricular systolic function and energy efficiency, which could reduce exercise capacity. Though the interaction and the impact of aortic atherosclerosis on left ventricular function have been investigated, its prognostic implications in patients with heart failure are unclear.

Prevalence of scarred and dysfunctional myocardium in patients with heart failure of ischaemic origin: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) can provide unique data on the transmural extent of scar/viability. We assessed the prevalence of dysfunctional myocardium, including partial thickness scar, which could contribute to left ventricular contractile dysfunction in patients with heart failure and ischaemic heart disease who denied angina symptoms.

Methods: We invited patients with ischaemic heart disease and a left ventricular ejection fraction < 50% by echocardiography to have LGE CMR.

Relationship between right ventricular volumes measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic impact of right ventricular (RV) size in patients with chronic heart failure.

Methods And Results: Normal volunteers (n = 80) and patients (n = 380) with left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction <45% on echocardiography and on optimal treatment for heart failure underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging with measurement of LV and RV volumes, mass and ejection fraction. The mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the RV end-systolic volume index in normal subjects were used to define the normal range as: mean RV end-systolic volume index +2 SD.