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OBJECTIVES This study valued MR delayed enhancement pattern in predicting postoperative prognosis of intrahepatic mass-forming cholangiocarcinoma (IMCC). METHODS From 2011 to 2015, 231 patients of IMCC underwent DCE-MRI preoperatively. Enhancement patterns and MRI characteristics were evaluated. Recurrence and mortality data were compared among IMCCs with different enhancement patterns. Prognostic factor analysis was performed using preoperative and postoperative clinical-pathologic factors, as well as imaging findings. RESULTS Fifty-six (24.2%), 142 (61.5%) and 33 (14.3%) tumors showed hypo, peripheral rim and diffuse hyper enhancement in AP. Fifty-six (24.2%), 81 (35.1%) and 94 (40.7%) tumors showed hypo, heterogeneous and uniform enhancement in DP. Patients with arterial diffuse hyper enhancement or delayed uniform enhancement IMCCs had lower preoperative CA19-9 levels, smaller tumor sizes and minor operations than the rest patients (p

A 73-year-old man visited our hospital due to dyspnea and epigastralgia. His plasma brain natriuretic peptide level was 1,205 pg/mL. A 12-lead electrocardiogram showed ST segment depression in leads I, V5, and V6. Transthoracic echocardiography showed dilatation and severe hypokinesis of the left ventricle. Hypertrabeculation was observed at the septum, apex, and lateral wall. Delayed enhancement of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed a relatively low uptake of contrast agent at a large apical trabecula. After treatment with diuretics, follow-up echocardiography showed the disappearance of the controversial apical trabecula, which was later confirmed to have been a thrombus.

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL) is a very rare subtype of malignant lymphoma that is difficult to diagnose. Cases of myocardial infarction caused by IVLBCL are even rarer. Herein, we report a case presenting with heart failure and delayed enhancement in the hypokinetic cardiac septum on contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Myocardial biopsy showed large B-cell lymphoma cells in the microvessels within the myocardium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of imaging findings of cardiac involvement in IVLBCL.

This article is based on the use of GE combined with longitudinal lag time to quantify cardiac MRI screening for amyloidosis autologous thousand-cell transplantation, combined with clinical routine risk stratification, method for risk assessment of patients with amyloidosis and monitor the patient’s evaluation of the efficacy after treatment. Cardiac involvement with systemic amyloidosis is of great significance for both treatment and prognosis assessment, and is essential for quantitative and qualitative diagnosis or objectively providing prognostic value. In summary, myocardial amyloidosis needs to be studied before heart failure. It is recommended that patients undergo routine cardiac MRI examination to comprehensively evaluate cardiac morphology, function, risk stratification, prognosis, and treatment guidance. Diagnosis based on a single modality has been replaced by a comprehensive multi-modality method, and there is sufficient evidence to show the potential value of cardiac. However, with the continuous improvement of quality and value in the medical field, the field of cardiac will inevitably develop. The predicted and baseline indexes of myocardial strain predicted cardiac remission were 0.96 and 0.79, respectively. When the predictive value of clinical routine indicators and cardiac indicators is analyzed using blood response as the evaluation standard, the reduction in end-diastolic volume/body surface area (P = 0.031) can predict complete haematological remission. Folded cross-validation test shows that the end-diastolic volume/body surface area reduction and the baseline index IgG combined with myocardial strain predict AUC of complete blood remission of 0.78 and 0.76, respectively. This study will also continue to follow up and increase the sample size to verify the current conclusions.

Hereditary cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is a relatively rare cause of nonischemic cardiomyopathy. The risk of intracardiac thrombi increases significantly in patients with CA. We report a case of a patient presenting with chest pain and acute myocardial infarction who was subsequently diagnosed with concomitant CA and acute coronary embolism.

Frequently, multimodality imaging is indispensable in the care of patients with pericardial disease. With cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, pericardial inflammation can be characterized as acute, subacute, or chronic. This spectrum of inflammation is variably associated with reduced compliance of the pericardium, which may result in constrictive pathophysiology, typically well-defined with echocardiography. This interplay between inflammation and hemodynamics is often optimally characterized with multimodality imaging and has redefined the approach of pericardiologists to diagnose, prognosticate, and tailor individual therapies.

Sarcoidosis is a relatively rare inflammatory condition which potentially carries high morbidity and substantial mortality. Due to the fact that it does not subject patients to ionizing radiation, has high temporal, spatial and contrast resolutions, cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has become an important diagnostic and prognostic modality in the evaluation for cardiac involvement in this condition. This review provides relevant dinical and pathophysiological background on cardiac sarcoidosis, whilst detailing the role of CMR imaging in the diagnosis, and management of this condition. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.

Despite advances in cardiovascular imaging, the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis remains challenging. A multimodality approach to the diagnosis of CP is essential to (a) fully assess the extent of pericardial thickening and calcification, (b) detect the functional and hemodynamic consequences of the constricting pericardium, and (c) implement the optimal management strategy in these often complex cases. This case-based review highlights the role and diagnostic ambiguities of multimodality imaging.

Introduction: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is associated with remodeling of the atrial tissue, which leads to fibrosis that can contribute to the initiation and maintenance of AF. Delayed- Enhanced Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (DE-CMR) imaging for atrial wall fibrosis detection was used in several studies to guide AF ablation. The aim of present study was to systematically review the literature on the role of atrial fibrosis detected by DE-CMR imaging on AF ablation outcome. Methods: Eight bibliographic electronic databases were searched to identify all published relevant studies until 21st of March, 2016. Search of the scientific literature was performed for studies describing DE-CMR imaging on atrial fibrosis in AF patients underwent Pulmonary Vein Isolation (PVI). Results: Of the 763 citations reviewed for eligibility, 5 articles (enrolling a total of 1040 patients) were included into the final analysis. The overall recurrence of AF ranged from 24.4 - 40.9% with median follow-up of 324 to 540 days after PVI. With less than 5-10% fibrosis in the atrial wall there was a maximum of 10% recurrence of AF after ablation. With more than 35% fibrosis in the atrial wall there was 86% recurrence of AF after ablation. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that more extensive left atrial wall fibrosis prior ablation predicts the higher arrhythmia recurrence rate after PVI. The DE-CMR imaging modality seems to be a useful method for identifying the ideal candidate for catheter ablation. Our findings encourage wider usage of DE-CMR in distinct AF patients in a pre-ablation setting.

Objective: To investigate the imaging features of fungal liver infection in pediatric patients. Materials and methods: CT and MRI findings of fungal liver infection were retrospectively analyzed in nine pediatric patients. There were six males and three females, patients’ age ranged from 7 months to 9 years with an average of 4.1 years. Results: Of the nine patients, one had a solitary lesion and eight had multiple lesions. According to the criteria based on the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and Mycoses Study Group (EORTC-MSG) guidelines for clinical research. Multiphasic CT and MRI examinations in the liver with fungal infection were performed and there were three types of imaging patterns. Type Ⅰ, ''target-ring sign'' phenomenon. The lesion showed uneven low or iso density on plain CT scan, uneven iso-T1 or long T1 and long T2 signal on MRI scan, and uneven annular enhancement on three-phases enhanced CT and MRI scan. Type Ⅱ, Delayed enhancement. The lesion showed low or iso-density on plain CT scan, in arterial phase and portal phase, and iso-density in delayed phase. Type Ⅲ, Delayed ring-like-enhancement. The lesion showed low or iso-density on plain CT scan, in arterial phase and portal phase, and ring-like enhancement in delayed phase. In arterial phase, the liver parenchyma around the lesion showed transient abnormal, hyperperfusion in seven patients. Usually the lesion did not affect the hepatic blood vessels which were seen in the enhanced scan. After antifungal therapy, the lesion decreased in size or even completely disappeared. Conclusion: The findings of fungal liver infection on CT and MRI exhibited some specific imaging patterns, which could be helpful for early diagnosis and treatment guidance. Keywords: Children, Liver, Fungal infection, Tomography, X-ray computed, Magnetic resonance imaging

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of myocardial iodine density and extracellular volume fraction (ECV) from delayed iodine density images using dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) for differentiation between non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) patients and normal subjects. Methods Forty-six subjects were imaged, including 35 normal subjects and 11 patients with NIDCM. All subjects underwent myocardial delayed enhancement (MDE) imaging on rapid-kVp switching DECT. Global and segmental iodine density and ECV were calculated from MDE images. Histogram analysis was also performed. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the cut-off value and diagnostic performances in differentiating NIDCM patients from normal subjects. Results Global iodine density and ECV were significantly higher in NIDCM compared with normal controls (iodine: 14.19 ± 3.90 vs. 10.69 ± 1.88 in 100 μg/cm3, p = 0.015; ECV: 31.35 ± 2.53% vs. 26.62 ± 2.69%, p Conclusions Iodine density and ECV values from DECT may provide indices offering high diagnostic accuracy for discriminating between NIDCM and normal myocardium.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, typically progressive and most common autoimmune disease which damaged the central nervous system. According to the reports in 2008, this disorder has affected 2 and 2.5 million people globally. While the reason is not clear, proposed causes for this include immunologic, environmental, infectious and genetic factors, and sexuality. MS can cause many symptoms, including blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis, blindness, and more. There are four distinguished illness fields in MS: relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), primary–progressive MS (PPMS), secondary–progressive MS (SPMS), and progressive–relapsing. MRI is a great tool to identify the asymptomatic distribution of lesions in space and time. Materials and Methods : 32 patients with MS plaques were evaluated by FLAIR and DWI pre- and post-Gadolinium injection compared with 15minutes delay T1w SE. Results : FLAIR post-inject had significantly better detection of the number and signal intensity of active MS lesions. DWI and ADC images detected active plaques different from non-active lesions without contrast. Conclusion : The result of this study showed that FLAIR post-inject had the highest sensitivity in detection of active MS lesions due to the CSF signal suppression in FLAIR, thus offering enough TR time recovery in active enhanced plaques.

the assessment of fibrosis in Crohn's disease (CD) bowel lesions helps to guide therapeutic decisions. Real-time elastography (RTE) and delayed-enhancement magnetic resonance enterography (DE-MRE) have demonstrated good accuracy in quantifying CD-related ileal fibrosis as compared with histological examination. To date no study has compared DE-MRE and RTE.we aimed to evaluate the agreement between RTE and DE-MRE on quantifying CD-related ileal fibrosis.consecutive patients with ileal or ileocolonic CD underwent RTE and DE-MRE. Ileal fibrosis was quantified by calculating the strain ratio (SR) at RTE and the 70s-7 min percentage of enhancement gain (%EG) of both mucosa and submucosa at DE-MRE. A SR ≥2 was applied to define severe fibrosis. Clinically relevant outcomes occurring at follow-up were recorded.40 CD patients were enrolled. A significant linear correlation was observed between SR and submucosal %EG (r = 0.594, p 0.001). Patients with severe fibrosis (SR ≥2) had significantly higher submucosal %EG values than patients with low/moderate fibrosis (median values 26.4% vs. 9.5%, p 0.001). During a median 43.8-month follow-up relevant disease outcomes occurred more frequently in the severe-fibrosis group (75% vs. 36%, HR 5.4, 95% CI 1.2-24.6, p = 0.029).the study demonstrates an excellent agreement between RTE and DE-MRE in assessing ileal fibrosis in CD.

Once the muscular wall dies because of a heart attack; it is recovered by the scar tissue in the many weeks. The structure and mechanical properties of the curative scar are the entire significant determinants of the chance of patients who survive the initial infarction. Here, our goal is to compare the geometry of the scar tissue with the healthy myocardium of the Left ventricular (LV) using Topological Data Analysis (TDA). The morphological image processing method was performed on delayed enhancement CT images for defining the scar regions of the left ventricular endocardial wall using the MATLAB platform. Predicted scar region images and normal myocardium wall images were used for the geometry of the scar tissue and healthy tissue using the geometrical topological approach. Barcode was generated for scar and healthy myocardium and found the dissimilarity distance between scar and the normal tissue distances to be 9.37. This research helps in a better understanding of the normal and scar architecture difference of the LV endocardial wall.

Myocardial infarction is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases. Clinical information and Delayed Enhancement cardiac MRI (DE-MRI) are crucial to diagnose the myocardial infarction. However, some discrepancies can occur between clinical characteristics and DE-MRI when the disease is diagnosed. In order to deal in an efficient way with the correlation between these data and to be able to automatically classify patients suffering from myocardial infarction, this paper proposes a mixed classification model that takes both the clinical characteristics and DE-MRI into account. In the mixed model, a 3D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) encodes the MRI as the surface of infarction then the surface is fed with Random Forest and other clinical characteristics to make the final decision.

In this paper, we propose a new deep learning framework for an automatic myocardial infarction evaluation from clinical information and delayed enhancement-MRI (DE-MRI). The proposed framework addresses two tasks. The first task is automatic detection of myocardial contours, the infarcted area, the no-reflow area, and the left ventricular cavity from a short-axis DE-MRI series. It employs two segmentation neural networks. The first network is used to segment the anatomical structures such as the myocardium and left ventricular cavity. The second network is used to segment the pathological areas such as myocardial infarction, myocardial no-reflow, and normal myocardial region. The segmented myocardium region from the first network is further used to refine the second network’s pathological segmentation results. The second task is to automatically classify a given case into normal or pathological from clinical information with or without DE-MRI. A cascaded support vector machine (SVM) is employed to classify a given case from its associated clinical information. The segmented pathological areas from DE-MRI are also used for the classification task. We evaluated our method on the 2020 EMIDEC MICCAI challenge dataset. It yielded an average Dice index of 0.93 and 0.84, respectively, for the left ventricular cavity and the myocardium. The classification from using only clinical information yielded 80% accuracy over five-fold cross-validation. Using the DE-MRI, our method can classify the cases with 93.3% accuracy. These experimental results reveal that the proposed method can automatically evaluate the myocardial infarction.

Cardiovascular diseases are the top cause of death worldwide. Commonly, physicians screen suspected pathological patients with histological examinations and blood tests. Since these clinical parameters are frequently ambiguous, they are routinely extended by delayed-enhancement magnetic resonance imaging of the myocardium.

Automatic segmentation of myocardial contours and relevant areas like infraction and no-reflow is an important step for the quantitative evaluation of myocardial infarction. In this work, we propose a cascaded convolutional neural network for automatic myocardial infarction segmentation from delayed-enhancement cardiac MRI. We first use a 2D U-Net to focus on the intra-slice information to perform a preliminary segmentation. After that, we use a 3D U-Net to utilize the volumetric spatial information for a subtle segmentation. Our method is evaluated on the MICCAI 2020 EMIDEC challenge dataset and achieves average Dice score of 0.8786, 0.7124 and 0.7851 for myocardium, infarction and no-reflow respectively, outperforms all the other teams of the segmentation contest.

International consensus diagnostic criteria (ICDC) include characteristic images of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP); however, reports on atypical cases are increasing. The aims of this study were to compare CT findings between AIP and pancreatic cancer (PC), and to analyze type 1 AIPs showing atypical images.Five-phase CT images were compared between 80 type 1-AIP lesions and 80 size- and location-matched PCs in the case-control study. Atypical AIPs were diagnosed based on the four ICDC items.ICDC items were recognized in most AIP lesions; pancreatic enlargement (87.7%), narrowing of the main pancreatic duct (98.8%), delayed enhancement (100%), and no marked upstream-duct dilation (97.5%). CT values of AIPs increased rapidly until the pancreatic phase and decreased afterward, while those of PCs gradually increased until the delayed phase (P 0.0001). Atypical images were recognized in 14.8% of AIPs, commonly without pancreatic enlargement (18.5 mm) and sometimes mimicking intraductal neoplasms. The CT values and their ratios were different between atypical AIPs and size-matched PCs most significantly in the pancreatic phase, but similar in the delayed phase.Ordinary type 1 AIPs can be diagnosed with the ICDC, but atypical AIPs represented a small fraction. "Delayed enhancement" is characteristic to ordinary AIPs, however, "pancreatic-phase enhancement" is more diagnostic for atypical AIPs.

Assessing thromboembolic risk is crucial for proper management of patients with atrial fibrillation. Left atrial volume is a promising predictor of cardiac thrombosis. To determine whether left atrial volume can predict left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation, we conducted a prospective study of 73 patients. Left atrial and ventricular volumes were evaluated by cardiac computed tomography with retrospective electrocardiographic gating and then indexed to body surface area. Left atrial appendage thrombus was confirmed or excluded by cardiac computed tomography with delayed enhancement. Seven patients (9.6%) had left atrial appendage thrombus; 66 (90.4%) did not. Those with thrombus had a significantly higher mean left atrial end-systolic volume index (139 ± 55 vs 101 ± 35 mL/m2; P =0.0097) and mean left atrial end-diastolic volume index (122 ± 45 vs 84 ± 34 mL/m2; P =0.0077). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, left atrial end-systolic volume index (per 10 mL/m2 increase) was significantly associated with left atrial appendage thrombus (odds ratio [OR]=1.24; 95% CI, 1.03–1.50; P =0.02); so too was the left atrial end-diastolic volume index (per 10 mL/m2 increase) (OR=1.29; 95% CI, 1.05–1.60; P =0.02). These findings suggest that increased left atrial volume increases the risk of left atrial appendage thrombus. Therefore, patients with atrial fibrillation and an enlarged left atrium should be considered for cardiac computed tomography with delayed enhancement to confirm whether thrombus is present.

Delayed Enhancement cardiac MRI (DE-MRI) has become indispensable for the diagnosis of myocardial diseases. However, to quantify the disease severity, doctors need time to manually annotate the scar and myocardium. To address this issue, in this paper we propose an automatic myocardial infarction segmentation approach on the left ventricle from short-axis DE-MRI based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). The objective is to segment myocardial infarction on short-axis DE-MRI images of the left ventricle acquired 10 min after the injection of a gadolinium-based contrast agent. The segmentation of the infarction area is realized in two stages: a first CNN model finds the contour of myocardium and a second CNN model segments the infarction. Compared to the manual intra-observer and inter-observer variations for the segmentation of myocardial infarction, and to the automatic segmentation with Gaussian Mixture Model, our proposal achieves satisfying segmentation results on our dataset of 904 DE-MRI slices.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has been established as a modality to detect myocardial viability. The aim of this study was to evaluate myocardial viability by observing transmural extent of infraction and microvascular perfusion level.We performed CMR in 30 myocardial infarction (MI) patients within 7-10 days. At the 6‑month follow-up, CMR was used to evaluate the impact of abnormal reperfusion and observe the transmural extent of infraction on recovery of function.The left ventricle was divided into 16 segments using the American Heart Association classification. Infarcts were detected in 202 of the 480 segments (42%) by delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI). According to first-pass myocardial perfusion, abnormal perfusion was detected in 278 of 480 segments (60%), reduced perfusion was identified in 173 of 278 (62%), and perfusion defects in 105 of 278 segments (38%). The results showed that the segments with abnormal perfusion were larger than in DE-MRI (P 0.05), indicating that the area of abnormal perfusion segments extend significantly beyond the region of infarction. Microvascular perfusion with an infarcted region was lower compared to non-infarcted segments (P 0.05). The extent of myocardial hyperenhancement correlated inversely with microvascular perfusion (P 0.05). Segments with severe microvascular perfusion and75% transmural infarction on the 7‑ to 10-day scan had markedly increased at the 6‑month follow-up (P 0.01), indicating a lack of recovery of cardiac function.DE-MRI combined with microvascular perfusion may be effective to detect viable myocardium in patients with MI and may provide a means of predicting whether revascularization will be effective.

The aim of our study is to describe the multiphasic CT features of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinomas (FLHCCs) and pattern of distant metastases. 33 patients (mean age 28 years: 17M/16F) with pathologically confirmed FLHCC and pre-treatment multiphasic CT were included in the study. Two abdominal radiologists evaluated the multiphasic CT imaging features of these 33 FLHCC patients in consensus. Solitary hepatic mass was seen in 67% (22/33). Mean tumor size was 11.3 cm (range 4.6–22 cm). Tumor was well-defined in 64% (21/33). In the pre-contrast CT, 91% (30/33) were hypoattenuating. Central stellate scar was present in 73% (24/33). In FLHCC having central stellate scar, calcification within the central scar was seen in 88% (21/24). In the hepatic arterial phase, 82% (27/33) were hyperattenuating relative to liver. In the portal venous phase, 36% (12/33) were hyperattenuating, 46% (15/33) were isoattenuating, and 18% (6/33) were hypoattenuating. In the delayed phase images, 24% (8/23) were hyperattenuating, 67% (22/33) were isoattenuating, and 9% (3/33) were hypoattenuating. Delayed enhancement of the central stellate scar was seen in 12% (4/33). Distant metastases were seen in 54% (18/33). The most common site of metastases was lungs and was seen in 89% (16/18) of the patients with metastatic disease. FLHCC typically manifests as a large, solitary mass demonstrating heterogeneous hypervascular enhancement in the arterial phase. Most tend to be isoattenuating in delayed phase. Central stellate scar with internal calcification is a useful imaging feature that can help in the diagnosis of FLHCC. Lungs are the most common site of distant metastases in FLHCC.

Aim of the work: The aim of this study was to assess the rule of delayed T1 post contrast sequence in detection of active lesions in multiple sclerosis patients by comparing the early and delayed T1 post contrast images. Materials: This was a prospective study and included 30 known multiple sclerosis patients with clinically suspected activity referred form neurology department to radiology department for MRI examination. Methods: All patients were subjected to the followings:– Conventional routine MRI of the brain using 1.5 T machine.– T1 delayed post contrast sequence (about 10 min after contrast injection). Results: The included MS cases showed 162 lesions of variable distribution as 113 lesions were supratentorial while 49 lesions were infratentorial. Among 162 lesions in the current cases 58 lesions showed post contrast enhancement while the remaining 104 lesions were non enhancing. From the total of enhancing lesions (58), 16 lesions showed early enhancement while 42 lesions showed delayed enhancement. Conclusion: Delayed T1 post contrast is an important sequence for detection of active MS plaques as it increases the sensitivity of MRI. Keywords: Delayed T1 post contrast, Multiple sclerosis (MS), Delayed enhancement, MS activity

The aimof this study was to evaluate delayed enhancement as the tool for differentiation between metastatic brain lesions and neurotoxoplasmosis.Materials and methods.38 patients with multiple brain lesions with mass-effect and ring-type of contrast enhancement based on CT/MRI have been enrolled in the study. All cases were associated with metastatic brain lesions or toxoplasmosis. For every patient we performed contrast enhanced brain MRI and achieved axial T1WI immediately after contrast injection, in 15, 30 and 45 min. Acquired images were evaluated for the presence of contrast accumulation at delayed images in the central part of the lesions. Overall, we analyzed data for 153 lesions with 64 toxoplasmosis lesions and 89 metastatic.Results.Among 153 lesions with ring-type contrast enhancement central contrast enhancement at delayed images was determined for 83 lesions. Among 89 metastatic lesions 81 demonstrated delayed central enhancement. Among 64 neurotoxoplasmosis lesions only 2 demonstrated delayed central enhancement. The sensitivity of the sign was 88%, specificity 95%.Conclusions.The presence of central contrast enhancement at delayed images significantly increases the probability of metastatic nature of the lesions (specificity 95%). Consequently that sign might be effectively used for the differential between the metastases and neurotoxoplasmosis.

The typical finding of hypereosinophilic syndrome (Eosinophilic myocarditis) in the delayed enhancement (DE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is the “double V” sign, which includes (a) normal myocardium, (b) thickened enhanced endomyocardial layer, and (c) overlying apical thrombus. Corticosteroids may result in significant improvement of myocardial involvement., The typical finding of hypereosinophilic syndrome (Eosinophilic myocarditis) in the delayed enhancement (DE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is the “double V” sign, which includes 1. normal myocardium, 2. thickened enhanced endomyocardial layer, and 3. overlying apical thrombus. Corticosteroids may result in significant improvement of myocardial involvement.

the Kaiser score is increasingly recognized as a valuable tool to improve breast MRI interpretation. Contrast enhancement kinetics are the second most important diagnostic criterion, thus defining the curve type plays a crucial role in Kaiser score assessment. We investigate whether the timepoint used to determine the initial enhancement (earlyor peak) for the signal-intensity time curve analysis affects the diagnostic performance of the Kaiser score.This IRB-approved, retrospective, single-center study included 70 consecutives histologically verified breast MRI cases. Two off-site breast radiologists independently read all examinations using the Kaiser score, assessing the initial enhancement using three approaches: -first (1 st), second (2nd) and peak (maximum) of either 1 st or 2nd post-contrast timepoints. The initial enhancement was then compared to the last timepoint (delayed enhancement) to determine the curve type. Visual assessment of curve types was used for this study. Diagnostic performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis.Kaiser score reading results using the peak enhancement of either the first or second timepoint performed significantly better than the other approaches (P 0.05, respectively) and specifically achieved higher sensitivity. Diagnostic accuracy (AUC area under the curve) ranged between 85.4 % and 91.6 %, without significant differences between the two readers (P 0.5).Diagnostic performance of the Kaiser score is significantly influenced by how the initial enhancement timepoint is determined. Peak enhancement should be used as initial timepoint to avoid pitfalls due to timing or physiological differences.

We report a 26-year-old man who presented to the emergency department four times within a 4-year period with recurrent myocarditis. His presentations were characterized by chest pain, elevated troponin I, and normal coronary angiography. Endomyocardial biopsy showed nonspecific inflammatory process. Laboratory workup including viral screening and autoimmune markers were negative. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging showed evidence of recurrent myocarditis with progressive appearance of new areas of myocardial delayed enhancement seen in each admission.

Late gadolinium−enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) is the current clinical standard for assessment of functional recovery in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) [(1)][1]. Recently, delayed enhancement multidetector computed tomography (DE-MDCT) has enabled accurate evaluations of infarct

To evaluate the feasibility of cardiac CT for the evaluation of myocardial delayed enhancement (MDE) in the assessment of patients with cardiomyopathy, compared to cardiac MRI. A total of 37 patients (mean age 54.9 ± 15.7 years, 24 men) who underwent cardiac MRI to evaluate cardiomyopathy were enrolled. Dual-energy ECG-gated cardiac CT was acquired 12 min after contrast injection. Two observers evaluated cardiac MRI and cardiac CT at different kV settings (100, 120 and 140 kV) independently for MDE pattern-classification (patchy, transmural, subendocardial, epicardial and mesocardial), differentiation between ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and MDE quantification (percentage MDE). Kappa statics and the intraclass correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis. Among different kV settings, 100-kV CT showed excellent agreements compared to cardiac MRI for MDE detection (κ = 0.886 and 0.873, respectively), MDE pattern-classification (κ = 0.888 and 0.881, respectively) and differentiation between ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (κ = 1.000 and 0.893, respectively) for both Observer 1 and Observer 2. The Bland-Altman plot between MRI and 100-kV CT for the percentage MDE showed a very small bias (-0.15%) with 95% limits of agreement of -7.02 and 6.72. Cardiac CT using 100 kV might be an alternative method to cardiac MRI in the assessment of cardiomyopathy, particularly in patients with contraindications to cardiac MRI.

In surface electrocardiography (ECG), Q wave is often considered as a sign of irreversibly scarred myocardium. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is an accurate mean for the detection of myocardial viability. Herein, we study the predictive value of Q wave in nonviable (scarred) myocardium by CMR study. Retrospective analysis of the ECG and CMR data of 35 coronary artery disease patients was performed. The delayed enhancement CMR protocol was used for the detection of viability. The presence of a pathologic Q wave in surface ECG was negatively related to myocardial viability with a kappa measurement of agreement of −0.544 and P < 0.0001. Pathologic Q wave in surface ECG can be used as a simple tool for myocardial viability prediction.

Background Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is one of the main predictors of mortality in Chagas cardiomyopathy (CC). Although the substrate of sustained and nonsustained-VT (NS-VT) seems to be the same, little is known about the distribution of late enhancement (LE). Our aim was to compare the clinical findings and the amount and patterns of LE in Chagas disease according to the presence and type of VT. Methods and Results Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 54 Chagas seropositive patients: 8 indeterminate and 46 with CC of whom 15 were without VT, 13 with NS-VT, and 18 with sustained-VT (S-VT). There were 31 males (57%), mean age was 55.9 +/- 12.2 years. LE was found in 87% of all patients and in 50%, 80%, and 100% of the indeterminate, without VT and VT groups, respectively. The percentage of LE increased progressively in the indeterminate, CC without VT, and CC with VT groups; without a significant difference between NS-VT and S-VT (0.93%, 15.2%, 23.2%, and 21.4%, respectively). The amount of LE increased with the functional class. LE in the basal and mid lateral wall was more frequent in VT, without difference between S-VT and NS-VT. The only predictor of VT was the percentage of LE, odds ratio (OR), 6.2; (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.7-28.4; P = .01) with a cutoff of Odds Ratio 17.1%. Conclusions The amount of LE increases in relation to the clinical stage of the disease and its functional class in Chagas seropositive patients. The amount of LE was the main predictor of VT, without difference between S-VT and NS-VT.

Increased collagen, or fibrosis, is an important marker of disease and may improve identification of patients at risk. In addition, fibrosis imaging may play an increasing role in guiding therapy and monitoring its effectiveness. MRI is the most frequently used modality to detect, visualize and quantify fibrosis non-invasively. However, standard MRI techniques used to phenotype cardiac fibrosis such as delayed enhancement and extracellular volume determination by T1 mapping, require the administration of gadolinium-based contrast and are particularly difficult to use in patients with cardiac devices such as pacemakers and automatic defibrillators. Therefore, such methods are limited in the serial evaluation of cardiovascular fibrosis as part of chronic disease monitoring. A method to directly measure collagen amount could be of great clinical benefit. In the current review we will discuss the potential of a novel MR technique, ultrashort echo time (UTE) MR, for fibrosis imaging. Although UTE imaging is successfully applied in other body areas such as musculoskeletal applications, there is very limited experience so far in the heart. We will review the established methods and currently available literature, discuss the technical considerations and challenges, show preliminary in vivo images and provide a future outlook on potential applications of cardiovascular UTE.

Despite recent advancements in newer biomarkers development and improved imaging techniques, the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) remains a frequent clinical challenge. In this setting, cardiac MR (CMR) imaging has emerged as a powerful tool to assess heart morphology and function, with the unique advantage of noninvasive tissue characterization. This article summarizes the CMR imaging common findings in CA and the latest research in this field, including delayed enhancement, native T1 mapping, and extracellular volume quantification.

Myocardial extracellular volume fraction (ECV) derived from CT delayed enhancement (CTDE) may allow assessment of diffuse myocardial fibrosis. However, the amount of contrast medium required for ECV estimation has not been established. Since ECV estimation by CT is typically performed in combination with coronary CT angiography (CCTA) in clinical settings, we aimed to investigate whether reliable ECV estimation is possible using the contrast dose optimized for CCTA without additional contrast administration.Twenty patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease who underwent CTDE with a dual-source scanner using two protocols (Protocols A and B) within 2 years were retrospectively enrolled. In Protocol A, CTDE was obtained with 0.84 ml/kg of iopamidol (370 mgI/ml) injected for CCTA. In Protocol B, stress CT perfusion imaging, which requires 40 ml of contrast medium, was added to Protocol A. ECV values calculated from the two protocols were compared.Despite the different contrast doses, no significant difference in mean myocardial ECV was seen between Protocols A and B at the patient level (28.7 ± 4.3% vs. 28.7 ± 4.4%, respectively, P = 0.868). Excellent correlations in ECV were seen between the two protocols (r = 0.942, P 0.001). Bland-Altman analysis showed slight bias (+0.06%), within a 95% limit of agreement of -2.9% and 3.0%. The coefficient of variation was 5.2%.Reliable ECV estimation can be achieved with the contrast doses optimized for CCTA. Despite the differing contrast administration schemes and doses, ECV values calculated from the two protocols showed excellent agreement, indicating the robustness of ECV estimation by CT.

We aimed to assess the prevalence of myocardial delayed enhancement (MDE) in patients with suspected obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), and to investigate factors related to the presence or absence of MDE.We retrospectively evaluated 191 consecutive patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) with MDE imaging for clinical suspicion of CAD from December 2014 to December 2016. The presence of MDE on iodine-density images using dual-energy CT was assessed by two independent readers. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to determine factors associated with the presence of MDE.MDE was detected in 58 (30%) patients. Male gender, hypertension, prior heart failure (HF) hospitalization, and CCTA-detected CAD were independent factors related to the presence of MDE. When CCTA-detected CAD was excluded to narrow down the analysis to factors obtainable before CCTA, interventricular septum thickness (IVST) ≥12 mm was added as another independent factor. The combination of the following four factors: female gender, no history of hypertension, no history of prior HF hospitalization, and IVST 12 mm demonstrated high specificity (98.3%) and positive predictive value (96.2%) for predicting the absence of MDE.Male gender, hypertension, prior HF hospitalization, and CAD were independently associated with the presence of MDE in patients with suspected CAD. The combination of female gender, no history of hypertension, no history of prior HF hospitalization, and IVST 12 mm is likely to be a helpful predictor in discriminating patients without MDE before CCTA.

Background: Multi-phasic Computed Tomography (CT) evaluation allows to study the enhancement features of parotid gland masses. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of delayed enhancement in the characterization of different histologic types of parotid tumours. Methods: Forty-eight patients (22 male and 26 female) with at least one parotid gland tumor, were included in our study. Multi-phase CT images were obtained before and 30, 120 s and 8 minutes after intravenous contrast injection. The images were evaluated by two radiologists for lesion enhancement degree. A quantitative assessment was performed using a region of interest on each lesion and density changes between different phases were compared. The tumoral enhancement ratio was calculated between the 8 minutes delayed and the early (30 s) phase. The pathological diagnosis was confirmed in all patients after surgery. Results: All patients had unilateral lesion for a total of 48 lesions. Twenty-eight were pleomorphic adenomas, 15 Warthin's tumours and 5 carcinomas. All Warthin tumours showed a rapid contrast enhancement at the early phase (30 sec) followed by a progressive wash-out during the delayed scans. Most of pleomorphic adenomas (89.2%) showed the highest density at the 8-minutes delayed phase. Malignant tumours showed slower contrast enhancement and 3 out of 5 (60%) showed a marked decrease at the 8 minutes delayed phase while the remaining 2 (40%), did not show any density reduction. The tumoral enhancement ratio was significantly different between Warthin tumours and pleomorphic adenomas and between Warthin's and malignant tumours. Conclusions: Multi-phasic CT examination with 8 minutes delayed acquisition has shown to be useful in parotid gland lesion differentiation. Background: Multi-phasic Computed Tomography (CT) evaluation allows to study the enhancement features of parotid gland masses. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of delayed enhancement in the characterization of different histologic types of parotid tumours.Methods: Forty-eight patients (22 male and 26 female) with at least one parotid gland tumor, were included in our study. Multi-phase CT images were obtained before and 30, 120 s and 8 minutes after intravenous contrast injection. The images were evaluated by two radiologists for lesion enhancement degree. A quantitative assessment was performed using a region of interest on each lesion and density changes between different phases were compared. The tumoral enhancement ratio was calculated between the 8 minutes delayed and the early (30 s) phase. The pathological diagnosis was confirmed in all patients after surgery.Results: All patients had unilateral lesion for a total of 48 lesions. Twenty-eight were pleomorphic adenomas, 15 Warthin's tumours and 5 carcinomas. All Warthin tumours showed a rapid contrast enhancement at the early phase (30 sec) followed by a progressive wash-out during the delayed scans. Most of pleomorphic adenomas (89.2%) showed the highest density at the 8-minutes delayed phase. Malignant tumours showed slower contrast enhancement and 3 out of 5 (60%) showed a marked decrease at the 8 minutes delayed phase while the remaining 2 (40%), did not show any density reduction. The tumoral enhancement ratio was significantly different between Warthin tumours and pleomorphic adenomas and between Warthin's and malignant tumours.Conclusions: Multi-phasic CT examination with 8 minutes delayed acquisition has shown to be useful in parotid gland lesion differentiation.

Altres ajuts:The present study was supported by the EU Joint Programming Initiative 'A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life' (JPI HDHL INTIMIC-085), Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2018/116), INCLIVA and Universitat de Valencia (program VLC-BIOCLINIC 20-nanomIRM-2016A). Delayed enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (MR) is the gold-standard for non-invasive assessment after myocardial infarction (MI). MR microscopy (MRM) provides a level of detail comparable to the macro objective of light microscopy. We used MRM and correlative histopathology to identify infarct and remote tissue in contrast agent-free multi-sequence MRM in swine MI hearts. One control group (n = 3 swine) and two experimental MI groups were formed: 90 min of ischemia followed by 1 week (acute MI = 6 swine) or 1 month (chronic MI = 5 swine) reperfusion. Representative samples of each heart were analysed by contrast agent-free multi-sequence (T1-weighting, T2-weighting, T2*-weighting, T2-mapping, and T2*-mapping). MRM was performed in a 14-Tesla vertical axis imager (Bruker-AVANCE 600 system). Images from MRM and the corresponding histopathological stained samples revealed differences in signal intensities between infarct and remote areas in both MI groups (p-value < 0.001). The multivariable models allowed us to precisely classify regions of interest (acute MI: specificity 92% and sensitivity 80%; chronic MI: specificity 100% and sensitivity 98%). Probabilistic maps based on MRM images clearly delineated the infarcted regions. As a proof of concept, these results illustrate the potential of MRM with correlative histopathology as a platform for exploring novel contrast agent-free MR biomarkers after MI.

Background Delayed enhancement ( DE ) on magnetic resonance imaging is associated with ventricular arrhythmias, adverse events, and worse left ventricular mechanics. We investigated the impact of DE on cardiac resynchronization therapy ( CRT ) outcomes and the effect of CRT optimization. Methods and Results We studied 130 patients with ejection fraction ( EF ) ≤40% and QRS ≥120 ms, contrast cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and both pre‐ and 1‐year post‐ CRT echocardiograms. Sixty‐three (48%) patients did not have routine optimization of CRT . The remaining patients were optimized for wavefront fusion by 12‐lead ECG . The primary end point in this study was change in EF following CRT . To investigate the association between electrical dyssynchrony and EF outcomes, the standard deviation of activation times from body‐surface mapping was calculated during native conduction and selected device settings in 52 of the optimized patients. Patients had no DE (n=45), midwall septal stripe (n=30), or scar (n=55). Patients without DE had better ∆ EF (13±10 versus 4±10 units; P EF in midwall stripe (2±9 versus 12±12 units; P =0.01) and scar (0±7 versus 5±10; P =0.04) groups, but not in the no‐ DE group. Patients without DE had greater native standard deviation of activation times ( P =0.03) and greater ∆standard deviation of activation times with standard programming ( P =0.01). Device optimization reduced standard deviation of activation times only in patients with DE ( P Conclusions DE on magnetic resonance imaging is associated with worse EF outcomes following CRT . Device optimization is associated with improved EF and reduced electrical dyssynchrony in patients with DE .

The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between the degree of coronary artery stenosis determined by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and infarcted segments detected by delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI). DE-MRI and DSA were performed in 40 patients with coronary artery disease. The number of myocardial segments with infarction, the transmural extent of myocardial infarction, score of myocardial infarction by MRI, degree of coronary artery stenosis and Gensini score of the coronary artery were assessed. The correlation was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation test. Among the 40 patients, 126 infarcted myocardial segments with a total score of 307 were found by DE-MRI; the total Gensini score for coronary artery stenosis was 587. It was observed that 81.74% of the infarcted segments were at sites with >50% coronary artery stenosis. The correlation coefficient between the Gensini score and myocardial infarction score was 0.786 (P

A 48‐year‐old man from West Africa was evaluated for dyspnea. Echocardiography showed an echolucent mass at the left ventricular apex surrounded by a dense ridge of tissue, suggesting endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF). Doppler echocardiography showed restrictive hemodynamics and intramyocardial coronary blood flow at the hypertrophied apex, suggesting apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ApHCM) with calcified thrombus. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging showed a thickened myocardium with apical cavity obliteration and endomyocardial calcification, and gadolinium contrast demonstrated marked bright subendocardial and diffuse patchy intramyocardial hyperenhancement in the hypertrophied apical wall segment, confirming coexistence of EMF and ApHCM. Workup for known disorders of calcification was negative.

In an elderly population, the prevalence of unrecognized myocardial infarction (UMI) scars found via late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging was more frequent than expected. This study investigated whether UMI scars detected with LGE-CMR at age 70 would be detectable at age 75 and whether the scar size changed over time. From 248 participants that underwent LGE-CMR at age 70, 185 subjects underwent a follow-up scan at age 75. A myocardial infarction (MI) scar was defined as late enhancement involving the subendocardium. In the 185 subjects that underwent follow-up, 42 subjects had a UMI scar at age 70 and 61 subjects had a UMI scar at age 75. Thirty-seven (88 %) of the 42 UMI scars seen at age 70 were seen in the same myocardial segment at age 75. The size of UMI scars did not differ between age 70 and 75. The prevalence of UMI scars detected at LGE-CMR increases with age. During a 5-year follow-up, 88 % (37/42) of the UMI scars were visible in the same myocardial segment, reassuring that UMI scars are a consistent finding. The size of UMI scars detected during LGE-CMR did not change over time. • UMI scars detected by LGE-CMR are frequent in elderly. • The prevalence of UMI scars detected with LGE-CMR increases with age. • UMI scar size does not change over time.

Improvement of left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction can occur in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and it is more frequently observed if patients have no delayed enhancement (DE) in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). However, even in the absence of DE, not all patients have functional recovery. We retrospectively investigated the predictors of LV functional recovery in patients with DCM who had no DE in CMR.A total of 136 patients with DCM underwent CMR. Among them, 44 (29 male, age 55 ± 14 years) showed no DE and these patients composed the study population. The study patients were divided into 2 groups according to the occurrence of functional recovery defined as an increase in LV ejection fraction to a level of ≥50% and net increase in ejection fraction of 20% or more: group 1 (n = 14) with functional recovery and group 2 (n = 30) without functional recovery.In patients who showed functional recovery, left atrial volume index (LAVI [26 ± 8 mL/m(2) vs 45 ± 18 mL/m(2)]) and LV end-diastolic dimension (62 ± 6 mm vs 67 ± 7 mm) were significantly smaller when compared with those without functional recovery (P .05 for all). In Cox multiple regression analysis, LAVI was the only significant parameter associated with LV functional recovery (hazard ratio 0.932, 95% confidence interval 0.877-0.991, P = .024). LAVI 38 mL/m(2) had 100% specificity in predicting the improvement of LV systolic dysfunction.In DCM patients who had no DE in CMR, LAVI predicts LV functional recovery with high specificity.