[Symptomatic severe chronic aortic valve disease: a comparative study of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography].

Objective: To show the real value of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) in the evaluation of patients with symptomatic chronic aortic valve disease.

Methods: Seventy patients--35 with aortic stenosis (AoS) and 35 with aortic regurgitation (AoR) with surgical indication, who underwent preoperative echocardiogram (ECHO) and CMRI to assess ventricular function, volumes, and left ventricular mass index using cine magnetic resonance imaging, were studied.

Results: No statistically significant difference was observed between the AoS and AoR groups when ECHO and CMRI variables were compared.

Assessment of the ventricular function of patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by using magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: To assess the mechanisms that may be involved in the evolution of right and left ventricular dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging was used in 11 control patients (group C) and 27 patients with COPD, who were divided into 2 groups, COPDc and COPDs, according to the presence or absence of right ventricular dysfunction, respectively. Doppler echocardiography was used for assessing the degree of pulmonary hypertension.