Cluster analysis of 100 Marfan patients based on aortic 4D flow MRI and Z-score: insights into disease heterogeneity and stratification of subgroups.

Objectives: 4D flow MRI-derived variables from Marfan patients are highly heterogeneous. Our aim was to identify distinct Marfan patient subgroups based on aortic 4D flow MRI and Z-score for stratification of distinct hemodynamic profiles and clinical features by means of hierarchical cluster analysis.

Materials And Methods: One hundred Marfan patients underwent baseline aortic 4D flow MRI at 3 T.

Prognostic Relevance of Ischemic Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Apparently Healthy Endurance Athletes: A Follow-up Study Over 5 years.

Background: In many cardiac diseases, myocardial scar tissue detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) is a risk factor for cardiac arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. Previous studies in athletes reported an increased risk for cardiac events in this group of ostensibly healthy subjects. However, the currently available longitudinal studies on this topic included fairly old marathon runners with a mean age of 57 ± 6 years or represent a case-control study in athletes with preexisting ventricular arrhythmia.

Contrast-enhanced cardiac MRI is superior to non-contrast mapping to predict left ventricular remodeling at 6 months after acute myocardial infarction.

Objectives: Parametric mapping constitutes a novel cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) technique enabling quantitative assessment of pathologic alterations of left ventricular (LV) myocardium. This study aimed to investigate the clinical utility of mapping techniques with and without contrast agent compared to standard CMR to predict adverse LV remodeling following acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Materials And Methods: A post hoc analysis was performed on sixty-four consecutively enrolled patients (57 ± 12 years, 54 men) with first-time reperfused AMI.

Differentiation of acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and acute infarct-like myocarditis by visual pattern analysis: a head-to-head comparison of different cardiac MR techniques.

Objectives: Parametric cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) techniques have improved the diagnosis of pathologies. However, the primary tool for differentiating non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) from myocarditis is still a visual assessment of conventional signal-intensity-based images. This study aimed at analyzing the ability of parametric compared to conventional techniques to visually differentiate ischemic from non-ischemic myocardial injury patterns.

Cardiac T1 mapping enables risk prediction of LV dysfunction after surgery for aortic regurgitation.

Background: To assess whether cardiac T1 mapping for detecting myocardial fibrosis enables preoperative identification of patients at risk for early left ventricular dysfunction after surgery of aortic regurgitation.

Methods: 1.5 Tesla cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 40 consecutive aortic regurgitation patients before aortic valve surgery.

Correlation of Myocardial Native T1 and Left Ventricular Reverse Remodeling after Valvular Surgery.

Myocardial native T1 is a known cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging biomarker to quantify diffuse myocardial fibrosis in valvular cardiomyopathy. We hypothesized that diffuse myocardial fibrosis assessed by preoperative T1 mapping might correlate with LV reverse remodeling after valvular surgery. A prospective monocentric cohort study was conducted including 79 consecutive patients with valvular cardiomyopathy referred for surgical treatment of severe aortic or severe functional mitral regurgitation.

Prevalence and pattern of focal and potential diffuse myocardial fibrosis in male and female marathon runners using contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance.

Objectives: This study analyzed the prevalence and pattern of focal and potential diffuse myocardial fibrosis detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and extracellular volume (ECV) imaging in male and female marathon runners using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Methods: Seventy-four marathon runners were studied including 55 males (44 ± 8 years) and 19 females (36 ± 7 years) and compared to 36 controls with similar age and sex using contrast-enhanced CMR, exercise testing, and blood samples.

Results: Contrast-enhanced CMR revealed focal myocardial fibrosis in 8 of 74 runners (11%).

Cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking global and segmental strain in acute and chronic ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Strain is an important imaging parameter to determine myocardial deformation. This study sought to 1) assess changes in left ventricular strain and ejection fraction (LVEF) from acute to chronic ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and 2) analyze strain as a predictor of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). 32 patients with STEMI and 18 controls prospectively underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Assessment of aortic diameter in Marfan patients: intraindividual comparison of 3D-Dixon and 2D-SSFP magnetic resonance imaging.

Objectives: To compare the accuracy and precision of 3D-Dixon and 2D-SSFP MR-imaging for assessment of aortic diameter in Marfan patients.

Methods: This prospective single-center study investigated respiratory-gated 3D-Dixon and breath-hold 2D-SSFP non-contrast MR-imaging at 3 T in 47 Marfan patients (36.0 ± 13.

Changes in left ventricular geometry after subannular repair in type IIIb functional mitral regurgitation.

Objectives: Papillary muscle repositioning in functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) alleviates mitral valve (MV) tenting by reducing the distance between papillary muscle tips and MV annular plane, i.e. apical left ventricular (LV) displacement.

Intraindividual comparison of 1.5 T and 3 T non-contrast MR angiography for monitoring of aortic root diameters in Marfan patients.

Background: Reproducible aortic diameter measurements are crucial for assessment of aortic growth and aneurysm formation in patients with Marfan syndrome. The objective of this study was to perform an intraindividual comparison of aortic measurements at 1.5 T and 3 T using non-contrast magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in pre-surgical and post-surgical Marfan patients.

Prognosis of early pre-discharge and late left ventricular dilatation by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging after acute myocardial infarction.

To study the long-term prognosis of early pre-discharge and late left ventricular (LV) dilatation in patients with first ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and contemporary medical therapy. Long-term follow-up > 15 years was available in 53 consecutive patients (55 ± 13 years) with first STEMI. Late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) was obtained at baseline 5 ± 3 days and follow-up 8 ± 3 months after STEMI to measure LV function, volumes and infarct size.

Acute versus Chronic Myocardial Infarction: Diagnostic Accuracy of Quantitative Native T1 and T2 Mapping versus Assessment of Edema on Standard T2-weighted Cardiovascular MR Images for Differentiation.

Purpose To analyze the diagnostic accuracy of native T1 and T2 mapping compared with visual and quantitative assessment of edema on T2-weighted cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images to differentiate between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods This study had institutional ethics committee approval. Written informed consent was obtained from 67 consecutive patients (57 years ± 12; 78% men) with a first acute myocardial infarction, who were prospectively enrolled between April 2011 and June 2015.