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Background Myocardial CT perfusion (CTP) has been validated as an incremental diagnostic predictor over coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) in assessing hemodynamically significant stenosis. Objectives To assess the diagnostic performance of CTA and CTP alone versus combined CTA–CTP stratified by Morise's pre-test probability and coronary artery calcium (CAC, Agatston) score. Methods 381 individuals (153 low/intermediate-risk for CAD, 83 high-risk, 145 known CAD) were further stratified based on CAC score cut-offs of 1–399 and ≥400. Area under the curve for receiver operating characteristics (AUC) was calculated to assess the diagnostic performance. Reference standards were QCA≥50% stenosis+corresponding SPECT summed stress score ≥1. Results In both pre-test risk groups with an Agatston score of 1–399, AUCs of CTA–CTP were not significantly different than that from CTA alone. In the low/intermediate-risk group with CAC score 1–399, AUC for CTA–CTP (89) was higher than that for CTP (76, p=0.003) alone. In the same group with CAC score ≥400, AUCs were higher for CTA–CTP (97) than that for CTA (88, p=0.030) and CTP (83, p=0.033). In high risk/known CAD patients with CAC 1–399, diagnostic performance for CTA–CTP (77) was superior to CTP (71, p=0.037) alone. In the high risk/known CAD group with CAC score ≥400, AUCs for combined imaging were higher (86) than that for CTA (75, p Conclusions The incremental diagnostic accuracy of CTP over CTA persists in patients across severity spectra of pre-test probability of CAD and coronary artery calcification. In patients with severe coronary calcification (CAC score≥400), combined CTA–CTP has better diagnostic accuracy than CTA and CTP alone.

Echocardiography (echo) is the primary modality for assessment of mitral regurgitation (MR). American Society of Echocardiography guidelines recommend integrating numerous parameters to grade severity. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can also quantify MR severity. Uretsky et al. [(1)][1] reported

Cardiac function has traditionally been evaluated using breath-hold cine acquisitions. However, there is a great need for free breathing techniques in patients who have difficulty in holding their breath. Real-time cardiac MRI is a valuable alternative to the traditional breath-hold imaging approach, but the real-time images are often inferior in spatial and temporal resolution. This article presents a general method for reconstruction of high spatial and temporal resolution cine images from a real-time acquisition acquired over multiple cardiac cycles. The method combines parallel imaging and motion correction based on nonrigid registration and can be applied to arbitrary k-space trajectories. The method is demonstrated with real-time Cartesian imaging and Golden Angle radial acquisitions, and the motion-corrected acquisitions are compared with raw real-time images and breath-hold cine acquisitions in 10 (N = 10) subjects. Acceptable image quality was obtained in all motion-corrected reconstructions, and the resulting mean image quality score was (a) Cartesian real-time: 2.48, (b) Golden Angle real-time: 1.90 (1.00–2.50), (c) Cartesian motion correction: 3.92, (d) Radial motion correction: 4.58, and (e) Breath-hold cine: 5.00. The proposed method provides a flexible way to obtain high-quality, high-resolution cine images in patients with difficulty holding their breath Cardiac function has traditionally been evaluated using breath-hold cine acquisitions. However, there is a great need for free breathing techniques in patients who have difficulty in holding their breath. Real-time cardiac MRI is a valuable alternative to the traditional breath-hold imaging approach, but the real-time images are often inferior in spatial and temporal resolution. This article presents a general method for reconstruction of high spatial and temporal resolution cine images from a real-time acquisition acquired over multiple cardiac cycles. The method combines parallel imaging and motion correction based on nonrigid registration and can be applied to arbitrary k-space trajectories. The method is demonstrated with real-time Cartesian imaging and Golden Angle radial acquisitions, and the motion-corrected acquisitions are compared with raw real-time images and breath-hold cine acquisitions in 10 (N = 10) subjects. Acceptable image quality was obtained in all motion-corrected reconstructions, and the resulting mean image quality score was (a) Cartesian real-time: 2.48, (b) Golden Angle real-time: 1.90 (1.00–2.50), (c) Cartesian motion correction: 3.92, (d) Radial motion correction: 4.58, and (e) Breath-hold cine: 5.00. The proposed method provides a flexible way to obtain high-quality, high-resolution cine images in patients with difficulty holding their breath

OBJECTIVE. Coronary MDCT angiography has been shown to be an accurate noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Its sensitivity and negative predictive value for diagnosing percentage of stenosis are unsurpassed compared with those of other noninvasive testing methods. However, in its current form, it provides no information regarding the physiologic impact of CAD and is a poor predictor of myocardial ischemia. CORE320 is a multicenter multinational diagnostic study with the primary objective to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 320-MDCT for detecting coronary artery luminal stenosis and corresponding myocardial perfusion deficits in patients with suspected CAD compared with the reference standard of conventional coronary angiography and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging. CONCLUSION. We aim to describe the CT acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis methods of the CORE320 study.

Coronary heart disease is the largest major killer of American men and women and accounted for 1 of every 6 deaths in the United States in 2007.1 The annual incidence of myocardial infarction in the United States is estimated to be 935 000, with 610 000 new cases and 325 000 recurrent attacks. Survivors have a much higher chance of suffering from congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. Prognosis after an acute myocardial ischemic injury is primarily dependent on the amount of myocardium that undergoes irreversible injury.2–4 Large transmural infarcts yield a higher probability of cardiogenic shock, arrhythmias, adverse remodeling, and development of late chronic heart failure. Although it has been known since the early 1970s that the size of a myocardial infarction can be modified by various therapeutic interventions,5 early coronary artery reperfusion by fibrinolysis or percutaneous coronary intervention, including balloon angioplasty with or without stenting, remains the only established intervention capable of consistently reducing infarct size in humans. Although reperfusion has led to significant advances in patient care and reduction in hospital mortality, delays in seeking medical attention and inherent limitations in initiating fibrinolysis or percutaneous coronary intervention dictate that additional substantive improvements in morbidity and mortality can be achieved only with the development of new adjunctive therapies coupled with reperfusion. In addition, reperfusion therapy itself may induce reperfusion injury, a phenomenon that may encompass stunned myocardium, no-reflow phenomenon, and lethal myocardial cell death. If this injury could be prevented or minimized by administration of adjunctive therapy, then the net benefit of reperfusion could be enhanced. The problem of acute ischemic injury and myocardial infarction is not limited to patients with acute coronary artery syndrome. It remains a major problem in cardiac surgery as well. It is well documented that the incidence of myocardial necrosis after surgery, as determined by creatine kinase MB enzyme release and troponin levels, ranges somewhere between 40% and 60%, and, depending on its clinical definition, the incidence of myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass graft surgery may be as high as 19%. The intermediate and long-term implications are considerable. In a recent retrospective analysis of 18 908 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery and in whom long-term follow-up was available, it was shown that myocardial enzyme elevation within the first 24 hours of surgery was associated with increasing mortality over the course of months to years. This study confirms earlier reports that even small enzyme elevations after surgery are associated with worse long-term outcomes.4

Almost all published preclinical studies of cardioprotective agents include a measurement of area at risk, infarct size, and thus allow determination of myocardial salvage as an indicator of therapeutic benefit. Until recently, single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) imaging with injection of sestamibi prior to intervention was the only clinical method suitable for making similar assessments in patients. Over the past 5 years, a large number of articles have documented that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can noninvasively determine area at risk, infarct size, and myocardial salvage. While T2-weighted imaging has been the method used most commonly, precontrast T1-weighted images and early gadolinium enhancement (EGE) images can also determine the size of the area at risk. All 3 of these MRI methods detect the area at risk based on myocardial edema resulting from ischemia. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) images provide a well-accepted reference standard for infarct size in all of those methods. Finally, LGE images can also provide a single modality measure of myocardial salvage based on the “wave front” of myocardial injury associated with the progressively more severe damage associated with acute myocardial infarction (MI). Essentially, the LGE images can provide an endocardial-based snap shot of infarct size and salvaged myocardium is estimated as the viable myocardium within the circumferential extent of the infarct. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of how MRI can determine the area at risk, infarct size, and thus measure myocardial salvage.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a noninvasive imaging method that can determine myocardial anatomy, function, perfusion, and viability in a relative short examination. In terms of viability assessment, CMR can determine viability in a non-contrast enhanced scan using dobutamine stress following protocols comparable to those developed for dobutamine echocardiography. CMR can also determine viability with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) methods. The gadolinium-based contrast agents used for LGE differentiate viable myocardium from scar on the basis of differences in cell membrane integrity for acute myocardial infarction. In chronic myocardial infarction, the scarred tissue enhances much more than normal myocardium due to increases in extracellular volume. LGE is well validated in pre-clinical and clinical studies that now span from almost a cellular level in animals to human validations in a large international multicenter clinical trial. Beyond infarct size or infarct detection, LGE is a strong predictor of mortality and adverse cardiac events. CMR can also image microvascular obstruction and intracardiac thrombus. When combined with a measure of area at risk like T2-weighted images, CMR can determine infarct size, area at risk, and thus estimate myocardial salvage 1-7 days after acute myocardial infarction. Thus, CMR is a well validated technique that can assess viability by gadolinium-free dobutamine stress testing or late gadolinium enhancement.

Quantification of myocardial T1 relaxation has potential value in the diagnosis of both ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. Image acquisition using the Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery technique is clinically feasible for T1 mapping. However, respiratory motion limits its applicability and degrades the accuracy of T1 estimation. The robust registration of acquired inversion recovery images is particularly challenging due to the large changes in image contrast, especially for those images acquired near the signal null point of the inversion recovery and other inversion times for which there is little tissue contrast. In this paper, we propose a novel motion correction algorithm. This approach is based on estimating synthetic images presenting contrast changes similar to the acquired images. The estimation of synthetic images is formulated as a variational energy minimization problem. Validation on a consecutive patient data cohort shows that this strategy can perform robust non-rigid registration to align inversion recovery images experiencing significant motion and lead to suppression of motion induced artifacts in the T1 map.

Objective Cardiac troponin levels help risk-stratify patients presenting with an acute coronary syndrome. Although cardiac troponin levels may be elevated in patients presenting with non-acute coronary syndrome conditions, specific diagnoses and long-term outcomes within that cohort are unclear. Methods By using the Veterans Affairs centralized databases, we identified all hospitalized patients in 2006 who had a troponin assay obtained during their initial reference hospitalization. On the basis of the diagnostic codes of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, primary diagnoses were categorized as acute coronary syndrome or non-acute coronary syndrome conditions. Results Of a total of 21,668 patients with an elevated troponin level who were discharged from the hospital, 12,400 (57.2%) had a non-acute coronary syndrome condition. Among that cohort, the most common diagnostic category involved the cardiovascular system, and congestive heart failure (N=1661) and chronic coronary artery disease (N=1648) accounted for the major classifications. At 1 year after hospital discharge, mortality in patients with a non-acute coronary syndrome condition was 22.8% and was higher than in the acute coronary syndrome cohort (odds ratio 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-1.49). Despite the high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in patients with a non-acute coronary syndrome diagnosis, use of cardiac imaging within 90 days of hospitalization was low compared with that in patients with acute coronary syndrome (odds ratio 0.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.27). Conclusions Hospitalized patients with an elevated troponin level more often have a primary diagnosis that is not an acute coronary syndrome. Their long-term survival is poor and justifies novel diagnostic or therapeutic strategy-based studies to target the highest risk subsets before hospital discharge.

Background— In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), myocardial abnormalities are commonly heterogeneous. Two patterns of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) have been reported: a bright “confluent” and an intermediate intensity abnormality termed “diffuse,” each representing different degrees of myocardial scarring. We used MRI to study the relation between intramural cardiac function and the extent of fibrosis in HCM. The aim of this study was to determine whether excess collagen or myocardial scarring, as determined by LGE MRI, are the primary mechanisms leading to heterogeneous regional contractile function in patients with HCM. Methods and Results— Intramural left ventricular strain, transmural left ventricular function, and regions of myocardial fibrosis/scarring were imaged in 22 patients with HCM, using displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE), cine MRI, and LGE. DENSE systolic strain maps were qualitatively and quantitatively compared with LGE images. Intramural systolic strain by DENSE was significantly depressed within areas of confluent and diffuse LGE but also in the core of the most hypertrophic nonenhanced segment (all P Conclusions— LGE predicted some but not all of the heterogeneity of intramural contractile abnormalities. This indicates that myocardial scarring or excess interstitial collagen deposition does not fully explain the observed contractile heterogeneity in HCM. Thus, myofibril disarray or other nonfibrotic processes affect systolic function in a large number of patients with HCM.

Background Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR) is currently clinically performed with either a CO2 or Ho:YAG laser for the treatment of severe angina. While both lasers provide symptomatic relief, there are significant differences in the laser–tissue interactions specific to each device that may impact their ability to enhance the perfusion of myocardium and thereby improve contractile function of the ischemic heart. Methods A porcine model of chronic myocardial ischemia was employed. After collecting baseline functional data with cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dobutamine stress echo (DSE), 14 animals underwent TMR with either a CO2 or Ho:YAG laser. Transmural channels were created with each laser in a distribution of 1/cm2 in the ischemic zone. Six weeks post-treatment repeat MRI as well as DSE were obtained after which the animals were sacrificed. Histology was preformed to characterize the laser–tissue interaction. Results CO2 TMR led to improvement in wall thickening in the ischemic area as seen with cine MRI (40.3% vs. baseline, P

Importance Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can identify unrecognized myocardial infarction (UMI) in the general population. Unrecognized myocardial infarction by CMR portends poor prognosis in the short term but, to our knowledge, long-term outcomes are not known. Objective To determine the long-term outcomes of UMI by CMR compared with clinically recognized myocardial infarction (RMI) and no myocardial infarction (MI). Design, Setting, and Participants Participants of the population-based, prospectively enrolled ICELAND MI cohort study (aged 67-93 years) were characterized with CMR at baseline (from January 2004-January 2007) and followed up for up to 13.3 years. Kaplan-Meier time-to-event analyses and a Cox regression were used to assess the association of UMI at baseline with death and future cardiovascular events. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were a composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACE: death, nonfatal MI, and heart failure). Results Of 935 participants, 452 (48.3%) were men; the mean (SD) age of participants with no MI, UMI, and RMI was 75.6 (5.3) years, 76.8 (5.2) years, and 76.8 (4.7) years, respectively. At 3 years, UMI and no MI mortality rates were similar (3%) and lower than RMI rates (9%). At 5 years, UMI mortality rates (13%) increased and were higher than no MI rates (8%) but still lower than RMI rates (19%). By 10 years, UMI and RMI mortality rates (49% and 51%, respectively) were not statistically different; both were significantly higher than no MI (30%) (P Conclusions and Relevance In this study, all-cause mortality of UMI was higher than no MI, but within 10 years from baseline evaluation was equivalent with RMI. Unrecognized MI was also associated with an elevated risk of nonfatal MI and heart failure. Whether secondary prevention can alter the prognosis of UMI will require prospective testing.

Aortic regurgitation (AR) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has been reported sporadically in the late 1990s by Doppler echocardiography, but neither its prevalence nor mechanism has been determined. We sought to investigate the prevalence, mechanism and risk factors of AR in HCM

Per guidelines, myocardial infarction (MI) requires evidence of myocardial injury (usually cardiac troponin ≥99th percentile reference thresholds) in a clinical setting of myocardial ischemia. Since current thresholds of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI) are not age-specific

Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of left ventricular (LV) remodeling assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance to various measures of obesity in a large population-based study. Background Obesity is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet its relationship with LV size and function is poorly understood. Methods A total of 5,098 participants (age 45 to 84 years; 48% men) in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who were free of clinically apparent cardiovascular disease underwent cardiac magnetic resonance to assess LV size and function as well as measures of obesity, including body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference, and cardiovascular risk factors. Fat mass (FM) was estimated based on height-weight models derived from bioelectrical impedance studies. The associations of obesity measures with LV size and function were evaluated using linear spline regression models for body mass index and multivariable regression models for other measures of obesity; they were displayed graphically using generalized additive models. Results LV mass and end-diastolic volume were positively associated with measures of obesity in both sexes after adjustment for risk factors (e.g., 5.7-g and 6.9-g increase in LV mass per 10-kg increase in FM in women and men, respectively [p Conclusions Obesity was associated with concentric LV remodeling without change in ejection fraction in a large, multiethnic cohort study.

Volume scanning with a 320–detector row scanner was found to reduce radiation doses at coronary CT angiography by up to 91% in comparison with those at standard helical scanning, with effective doses of 5.8 mSv at 120 kVp and 4.4 mSv at 100 kVp.

Cell-based therapies have been employed with conflicting results. Whether direct injection of ex-vivo expanded autologous marrow stromal cells (MSCs) would improve the function of ischemic myocardium and enhance angiogenesis is not well defined. In a porcine model of chronic ischemia, MSCs were isolated and cultured for 4 weeks. Sixteen animals were random divided into two groups to receive either direct intramyocardial injection of autologous MSCs, or equal volumes and injections sites of saline. Cine MRI and epicardial echocardiography were performed just prior to the injections and again 6 weeks later at the time of sacrifice at which point tissue was also analyzed. Myocardial function as assessed by regional wall thickening (as measured by dobutamine stress echocardiograms) demonstrated a 40.9% improvement after cell treatment of the ischemic zone (p = 0.016) whereas the saline treated animals only had a 3.7% change (p = 0.82) compared to baseline. The left ventricular ejection fractions of MSC group showed 19.5% improvement from baseline 35.9 ± 3.8% to 42.9 ± 5.8% (p = 0.049). Increased vascularity was found in the MSC group compared to controls (0.80 ± 0.30 vs 0.50 ± 0.19 capillary/myocyte ratio, p = 0.018). Direct injection of autologous MSCs promotes angiogenesis and enhances the functional improvements following chronic myocardial ischemia. This suggests that the angiogenesis engendered by cell treatment may be physiologically meaningful by improving the contractility of ischemic myocardium.

Cripto-1 is a membrane-bound protein that is highly expressed in embryonic stem cells and in human tumors. in the present study, we investigated the effect of low levels of oxygen, which occurs naturally in rapidly growing tissues, on Cripto-1 expression in mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells and in human embryonal carcinoma cells. During hypoxia, Cripto-1 expression levels were significantly elevated in mES cells and in Ntera-2 or NCCIT human embryonal carcinoma cells, as compared with cells growing with normal oxygen levels. The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha directly regulated Cripto-1 expression by binding to hypoxia-responsive elements within the promoter of mouse and human Cripto-1 genes in mES and NCCIT cells, respectively. Furthermore, hypoxia modulated differentiation of mES cells by enhancing formation of beating cardiomyocytes as compared with mES cells that were differentiated under normoxia. However, hypoxia failed to induce differentiation of mES cells into cardiomyocytes in the absence of Cripto-1 expression, demonstrating that Cripto-1 is required for hypoxia to fully differentiate mES cells into cardiomyocytes. Finally, cardiac tissue samples derived from patients who had suffered ischemic heart disease showed a dramatic increase in Cripto-1 expression as compared with nonischemic heart tissue samples, suggesting that hypoxia may also regulate Cripto-1 in vivo.

Cine MRI is used for assessing cardiac function and flow and is typically based on a breath-held, segmented data acquisition. Breath holding is particularly difficult for patients with congestive heart failure or in pediatric cases. Real-time imaging may be used without breath holding or ECG triggering. However, despite the use of rapid imaging sequences and accelerated parallel imaging, real-time imaging typically has compromised spatial and temporal resolution compared with gated, segmented breath-held studies. A new method is proposed that produces a cardiac cine across the full cycle, with both high spatial and temporal resolution from a retrospective reconstruction of data acquired over multiple heartbeats during free breathing. The proposed method was compared with conventional cine images in 10 subjects. The resultant image quality for the proposed method (4.2 +/- 0.4) without breath holding or gating was comparable to the conventional cine (4.4 +/- 0.5) on a five-point scale (P = n.s.). Motion-corrected averaging of real-time acquired cardiac images provides a means of attaining high-quality cine images with many of the benefits of real-time imaging, such as free-breathing acquisition and tolerance to arrhythmias.

A preliminary report on medical radiation exposures to the US population based on publicly available sources of data estimated that the collective dose received from medical uses of radiation has increased by >700% between 1980 and 2006.1 Computed tomography (CT) has had an annual growth rate of >10% per year and accounted for ≈50% of the collective dose in 2006. Approximately 65% of the collective CT dose is from studies of chest, abdomen, and pelvis. In 2006, cardiac CT accounted for 1.5% of the collective CT dose; however, utilization of cardiac CT is expected to rise, with the potential to further increase exposure to the population.1 Nuclear medicine studies in the United States have increased by 5% annually to 20 million in 2006 and accounted for ≈25% of the 2006 collective medical radiation dose. Among nuclear medicine studies, cardiac imaging represented 57% of the number of studies and ≈85% of the radiation dose.1 A number of publications on imaging with CT, fluoroscopy, or radioisotopes have emphasized the risks that may be associated with exposure to ionizing radiation.2–4 To make informed decisions concerning the use of medical radiation in imaging procedures, the following are important components: (1) A working knowledge of the principles and uncertainties of the estimation of patient dose and biological risk; (2) a comparison of the risks of radiation exposure with the risks of activities in daily life; and (3) recognition of the potential risk of failing to make important diagnoses or treatment decisions if imaging is not performed because of safety concerns. There is no federal regulation of patient radiation dose, with the exception of mammography. Most federal and state regulations are aimed at equipment performance or the handling of nuclear materials. Therefore, appropriate utilization of the equipment or nuclear material in cardiac …

Conventional approaches for fat and water discrimination based on chemical-shift fat suppression have reduced ability to characterize fatty infiltration due to poor contrast of microscopic fat. The multiecho Dixon approach to water and fat separation has advantages over chemical-shift fat suppression: 1) water and fat images can be acquired in a single breathhold, avoiding misregistration; 2) fat has positive contrast; 3) the method is compatible with precontrast and late-enhancement imaging, 4) less susceptible to partial-volume effects, and 5) robust in the presence of background field variation; and 6) for the bandwidth implemented, chemical-shift artifact is decreased. The proposed technique was applied successfully in all 28 patients studied. This included 10 studies with indication of coronary artery disease (CAD), of which four cases with chronic myocardial infarction (MI) exhibited fatty infiltration; 13 studies to rule out arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), of which there were three cases with fibrofatty infiltration and two confirmed with ARVC; and five cases of cardiac masses (two lipomas). The precontrast contrast-tonoise ratio (CNR) of intramyocardial fat was greatly improved, by 240% relative to conventional fat suppression. For the parameters implemented, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was decreased by 30% relative to conventional late enhancement. The multiecho Dixon method for fat and water separation provides a sensitive means of detecting intramyocardial fat with positive signal contrast. Magn Reson Med 61:215–221, 2009. © 2008

ObjectivesOur goal was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of aortic valve disease in girls and women with monosomy for the X chromosome, or Turner syndrome (TS).BackgroundComplications from congenital aortic valve disease are a major source of premature mortality in TS, but accurate data on the prevalence of aortic valve abnormalities and their association with aortic root dilation are not available.MethodsThis prospective study characterized the aortic valve and proximal aorta in 253 individuals with TS age 7 to 67 years using transthoracic echocardiography as our primary screening tool, supplemented with magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsTransthoracic echocardiography revealed a normal tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) in 172 and a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) in 66 subjects. Transthoracic echocardiography could not visualize the aortic valve in 15 of 253 or 6%. Magnetic resonance imaging diagnosed 12 of 15 of these cases (8 BAV and 4 TAV), so that only 3 of 253 (1.2%) could not be visualized by either modality. The aortic valve was bicuspid in 74 of 250 (30%) adequately imaged subjects. The prevalence was equal in pediatric (

Purpose To compare the dual-bolus to single-bolus quantitative first-pass magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion imaging for estimation of absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF). Materials and Methods Dogs had local hyperemia of MBF in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery (intracoronary adenosine). Animals (n = 6) had sequential single- and dual-bolus perfusion studies with microsphere determination of absolute MBF. Perfusion imaging was performed using a saturation-recovery gradient-echo sequence. Absolute MBF was by Fermi function deconvolution and compared to transmural, endocardial, and epicardial microsphere values in the same region of interest (ROI). Results Signal and contrast were significantly higher for the dual-bolus perfusion images. The correlation with MBF by microspheres was r = 0.94 for the dual-bolus method and r = 0.91 for the single-bolus method. There was no significant difference between MRI and microsphere MBF values for control or hyperemic zones for transmural segments for either technique. When the ROI was reduced to define endocardial and epicardial zones, single-bolus MR first-pass imaging significantly overestimated MBF and had a significantly larger absolute error vs. microspheres when compared to dual-bolus perfusion. Conclusion Both single-bolus and dual-bolus perfusion methods correlate closely with MBF but the signal and contrast of the dual-bolus images are greater. With smaller nontransmural ROIs where signal is reduced, the dual-bolus method appeared to provide slightly more accurate results. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The purpose of this study was to prospectively use a whole-heart three-dimensional (3D) coronary magnetic resonance (MR) angiography technique specifically adapted for use at 3 T and a parallel imaging technique (sensitivity encoding) to evaluate coronary arterial anomalies and variants (CAAV). This HIPAA-compliant study was approved by the local institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Twenty-two participants (11 men, 11 women; age range, 18-62 years) were included. Ten participants were healthy volunteers, whereas 12 participants were patients suspected of having CAAV. Coronary MR angiography was performed with a 3-T MR imager. A 3D free-breathing navigator-gated and vector electrocardiographically-gated segmented k-space gradient-echo sequence with adiabatic T2 preparation pulse and parallel imaging (sensitivity encoding) was used. Whole-heart acquisitions (repetition time msec/echo time msec, 4/1.35; 20 degrees flip angle; 1 x 1 x 2-mm acquired voxel size) lasted 10-12 minutes. Mean examination time was 41 minutes +/- 14 (standard deviation). Findings included aneurysms, ectasia, arteriovenous fistulas, and anomalous origins. The 3D whole-heart acquisitions developed for use with 3 T are feasible for use in the assessment of CAAV.

Real-time imaging may be clinically important in patients with congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or in pediatric cases. However, real-time imaging typically has compromised spatial and temporal resolution compared with gated, segmented studies. To combine the best features of both types of imaging, a new method is proposed that uses parallel imaging to improve temporal resolution of real-time acquired images at the expense of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but then produces an SNR-enhanced cine by means of respiratory motion-corrected averaging of images acquired in real-time over multiple heartbeats while free-breathing. The retrospective processing based on image-based navigators and nonrigid image registration is fully automated. The proposed method was compared with conventional cine images in 21 subjects. The resultant image quality for the proposed method (3.9+/-0.44) was comparable to the conventional cine (4.2+/-0.99) on a 5-point scale (P=not significant [n.s.]). The conventional method exhibited degraded image quality in cases of arrhythmias whereas the proposed method had uniformly good quality. Motion-corrected averaging of real-time acquired cardiac images provides a means of attaining high-quality cine images with many of the benefits of real-time imaging, such as free-breathing acquisition and tolerance to arrhythmias.

Imaging Highlights From the European Association of Echocardiography and the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Nina Ajmone Marsan, Andrew E. Arai, Albert C. van Rossum, Jose Luis Zamorano, Jeroen J. Bax Echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance represent 2 of the important cardiovascular imaging techniques. This article summarizes the highlights of scientific abstracts of the Euroecho meeting (the annual meeting of the European Association of Echocardiography) and the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR).

Advances in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging over the past 2 decades have led to MR becoming an increasingly attractive imaging modality. With the growing number of patients treated with permanent implanted or temporary cardiovascular devices, it is becoming ever more important to clarify safety issues in regard to the performance of MR examinations in patients with these devices. Extensive, although not complete, ex vivo, animal, and clinical data are available from which to generate recommendations regarding the safe performance of MR examination in patients with cardiovascular devices, as well as to ascertain caveats and contraindications regarding MR examination for such patients. Safe MR imaging involves a careful initial patient screening, accurate determination of the permanent implanted or temporary cardiovascular device and its properties, a thoughtful analysis of the risks and benefits of performing the examination at that time, and, when indicated, appropriate physician management and supervision. This scientific statement is intended to summarize and clarify issues regarding the safety of MR imaging in patients with cardiovascular devices.

Myocardial perfusion imaging sequences and analysis techniques continue to improve. We review the state-of-the-art in cardiovascular magnetic resonance first pass perfusion pulse sequences including the application of parallel imaging. There are a wide range of sequence designs and parameters to consider when optimizing an acquisition protocol. The interdependence of these parameters forces the user to make compromises. We describe the technical issues and provide insights into the various performance tradeoffs. We also review the basic design for T1-weighted first pass myocardial perfusion imaging and go on to discuss the tradeoffs associated with various schemes to provide multi-slice coverage. Artifact mechanisms are discussed and related to sequence design and parameters. The selection of quantitative versus qualitative analysis affects various performance requirements, such as spatial and temporal resolution and linearity of enhancement. Understanding the interaction between the pulse sequence parameters and resulting image quality is important for improving myocardial perfusion imaging.

Hyper IgE recurrent infection syndrome (HIES, or Job’s syndrome), is a primary immunodeficiency characterized by recurrent skin and lung infections, eczema, elevated serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, and various connective tissue and skeletal system abnormalities including characteristic facies, scoliosis, joint hyperextensibility, retained primary dentition, craniosynostosis, osteopenia, and pathologic fractures. We have identified two patients with aneurysmal coronary artery disease. One was a forty-three year old man with HIES and coronary artery aneurysms and ectasia identified on cardiac catheterization following myocardial infarction. The other was a 48 year old man with coronary artery ectasia-aneurysm identified after cardiac catheterization for evaluation of chest pain. Although connective tissue abnormalities are common in HIES, this is the first report of coronary artery aneurysms in HIES. Further studies are necessary to determine the incidence, pathogenesis, and optimal therapy of these arterial abnormalities in HIES.

Purpose To assess health and musculoskeletal function in survivors of pediatric sarcomas. Patients and Methods Thirty-two individuals treated for Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT), rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), or non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas (NR-STS) with multi-modality therapy were enrolled on this cross-sectional study. Median age at the time of therapy was 15.4 years (range 7.1–34.2), median age at the time of analysis was 37.4 years (17.5–55.4), and median duration of time elapsed from completion of therapy was 17.3 years (2.9–32.6). Participants underwent assessments of musculoskeletal functioning, cardiac function, metabolic and lipid analyses, renal and gonadal function, and psychological evaluation. Results This cohort of sarcoma survivors shows expected locoregional limitations in function of the area affected by sarcoma, and impaired global musculoskeletal functioning as evidenced by limited endurance and limited overall activity levels. The cohort also demonstrated substantial rates of cardiac dysfunction, elevated body fat index, hyperlipidemia, chronic psychological distress, and infertility in men (76%) and premature menopause (49%) in women. Conclusion Sarcoma survivors demonstrate diminished locoregional and global musculoskeletal functioning which likely limit occupational opportunities and socioeconomic health. In addition, the combination of diminished cardiac reserve, limited activity levels, and lipid dysregulation in sarcoma survivors suggests that this population is at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, even many years following completion of sarcoma therapy. Sarcoma survivors may benefit from life long follow-up for cardiovascular disease and from occupational counseling upon completion of therapy. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;48:192–199. Published 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

T2-weighted MRI of edema in acute myocardial infarction (MI) provides a means of differentiating acute and chronic MI, and assessing the area at risk of infarction. Conventional T2-weighted imaging of edema uses a turbo spin-echo (TSE) readout with dark-blood preparation. Clinical applications of dark-blood TSE methods can be limited by artifacts such as posterior wall signal loss due to through-plane motion, and bright subendocardial artifacts due to stagnant blood. Single-shot imaging with a T2-prepared SSFP readout provides an alternative to dark-blood TSE and may be conducted during free breathing. We hypothesized that T2-prepared SSFP would be a more reliable method than dark-blood TSE for imaging of edema in patients with MI. In patients with MI (22 acute and nine chronic MI cases), T2-weighted imaging with both methods was performed prior to contrast administration and delayed-enhancement imaging. The T2-weighted images using TSE were nondiagnostic in three of 31 cases, while six additional cases rated as being of diagnostic quality yielded incorrect diagnoses. In all 31 cases the T2-prepared SSFP images were rated as diagnostic quality, correctly differentiated acute or chronic MI, and correctly determined the coronary territory. Free-breathing T2 prepared SSFP provides T2-weighted images of acute MI with fewer artifacts and better diagnostic accuracy than conventional dark-blood TSE.

Background: Noninvasive risk stratification in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) is critical for implementing appropriate strategies to prevent major adverse events (MACE). We aim to compare the survival and accuracy of combined CT angiography (CTA) and CT myocardial stress perfusion imaging (CTP) with combined invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and stress SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging for predicting MACE in patients with suspected CAD. Methods: The CORE320 prospective multicenter study enrolled 381 patients, between 45-85 years of age, who were clinically referred for ICA. Overall, 379 participants had all imaging including coronary CTA, adenosine stress CTP, SPECT and ICA plus complete 2 year follow-up data. An independent panel adjudicated all adverse events. MACE was defined as late revascularization (beyond 30 days of index ICA), myocardial infarction, cardiac death, hospitalization for chest pain or congestive heart failure, and arrhythmia. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed and area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to determine test accuracy. Results: MACE (45 late revascularizations, 5 myocardial infarctions, 1 cardiac death, 8 hospitalizations for chest pain or congestive heart failure, and 1 arrhythmia) occurred in 51 of 379 patients. The 2 year MACE event free rate for combined CTA/CTP findings was 95% (-) vs. 82% (+) (Figure, p Conclusion: Combined CTA and CTP yields similar prediction of 2 year MACE (especially revascularization) and diagnostic accuracy compared to standard ICA and SPECT.

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked inherited disorder causing dilated cardiomyopathy with variable onset and progression. Our aim was to compare native T1 mapping and extracellular volume fraction (ECV) in boys with DMD to controls to identify markers of preclinical myocardial disease. Methods: With IRB approval and informed consent/assent, 17 boys with DMD had cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with contrast. Ejection fraction (EF), presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), native T1, and ECV mapping were obtained using a modified Look-Locker sequence on a 1.5T MR scanner (Figure 1). Results were compared with age and gender matched controls with no history predisposing to cardiac fibrosis (i.e. bypass, myocarditis, etc). Results: Seventeen DMD subjects (age 14 ± 5 years; EF 56% ± 8%) were compared with 13 normal controls (age 17 ± 4 years) with normal EF and no LGE. DMD subjects had low-normal EF (average EF 56% ± 8%) and 10 of 17 (59%) had evidence of LGE, all in the lateral location. Comparing native T1 in DMD vs controls, septal native T1 was 1060 ± 71 ms versus 990 ± 34 ms (p < 0.01) and lateral native T1 was 1090 ± 93 versus 978 ± 37 ms, respectively (p < 0.01). Comparing ECV values in DMD vs controls, septal ECV was 29.6 ± 7.8 and 25.9 ± 3.4 (p = 0.03) and lateral ECV was 32.7 ± 8.7 and 24.4 ±3.6 (p < 0.01), respectively. All DMD patients with abnormal EF and/or presence of LGE also had higher ECV values. Conclusions: ECV is strongly-related to DMD and differs significantly compared to normals, particularly in the lateral wall. ECV mapping may be a useful technique for identifying preclinical myocardial changes in DMD. Figure 1. A) Precontrast T1 map, B) post contrast T1 map and C) ECV map with scale on the right in the short axis projection of a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Arrows indicate elevated values laterally.

Introduction: The association of midlife atherosclerosis risk factors (RF) with later unrecognized myocardial infarction (UMI) is unclear. We investigated associations of midlife RF with UMI and recognized MI (RMI) detected 31 years later by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Methods: The Reykjavik Study (1967-91) collected serial measures of RF in subjects born 1907-35, mean (SD) age 48 ± 7 years. In ICELAND-MI (2004-07), 936 randomly selected survivors (76 ± 5 years) were evaluated by CMR. Analysis included logistic regression and random effects modeling adjusted for age, sex, and covariates. All comparisons are relative to the no MI group. Results: At baseline midlife evaluation, atherosclerotic risk assessed by a modified Framingham risk score was significantly higher in RMI and UMI than in no MI (7.4 ± 6.3%; 7.1 ± 6.2% vs 5.4 ± 5.8% respectively, p Compared to no MI, serial midlife systolic and diastolic BP were significantly higher in RMI [beta=4.03 ± 1.64 (SE) mm Hg, p=0.014 and 2.05 ± 0.94 mm Hg, p=0.025, respectively] as were cholesterol and triglycerides [0.43 ± 0.11 mmol/L, p=0.001 and 0.31 ± 0.07 mmol/L, p Conclusions: Midlife vascular risk factors are associated with UMI and RMI detected by CMR 31 years later. Systolic BP was the most important individual risk factor associated with later UMI.

Background— Cardiovascular magnetic resonance T1 mapping characteristics are elevated in adult cancer survivors; however, it remains unknown whether these elevations are related to age or presence of coincident cardiovascular comorbidities. Methods and Results— We performed blinded cardiovascular magnetic resonance analyses of left ventricular T1 and extracellular volume (ECV) fraction in 327 individuals (65% women, aged 64±12 years). Thirty-seven individuals had breast cancer or a hematologic malignancy but had not yet initiated their treatment, and 54 cancer survivors who received either anthracycline-based (n=37) or nonanthracycline-based (n=17) chemotherapy 2.8±1.3 years earlier were compared with 236 cancer-free participants. Multivariable analyses were performed to determine the association between T1/ECV measures and variables associated with myocardial fibrosis. Age-adjusted native T1 was elevated pre- (1058±7 ms) and post- (1040±7 ms) receipt of anthracycline chemotherapy versus comparators (965±3 ms; P P P P =0.17 and P =0.16, respectively). Native T1 and ECV remained elevated in cancer survivors after accounting for demographics (including age), myocardial fibrosis risk factors, and left ventricular ejection fraction or myocardial mass index ( P Conclusions— Three years after anthracycline-based chemotherapy, elevations in myocardial T1 and ECV occur independent of underlying cancer or cardiovascular comorbidities, suggesting that imaging biomarkers of interstitial fibrosis in cancer survivors are related to prior receipt of a potentially cardiotoxic cancer treatment regimen.

Background— Establishing the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in symptomatic patients allows appropriately allocating preventative measures. Single-photon emission computed tomography (CT)–acquired myocardial perfusion imaging (SPECT-MPI) is frequently used for the evaluation of CAD, but coronary CT angiography (CTA) has emerged as a valid alternative. Methods and Results— We compared the accuracy of SPECT-MPI and CTA for the diagnosis of CAD in 391 symptomatic patients who were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter study after clinical referral for cardiac catheterization. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTA and SPECT-MPI for identifying patients with CAD defined as the presence of ≥1 coronary artery with ≥50% lumen stenosis by quantitative coronary angiography. Sensitivity to identify patients with CAD was greater for CTA than SPECT-MPI (0.92 versus 0.62, respectively; P P P P Conclusions— CTA is more accurate than SPECT-MPI for the diagnosis of CAD as defined by conventional angiography and may be underused for this purpose in symptomatic patients. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00934037.

Background Quantitative saturation-recovery based T1 mapping sequences are less sensitive to systematic errors than the Modified Look-Locker Inversion recovery (MOLLI) technique but require high performance saturation pulses. We propose to optimize adiabatic and pulse train saturation pulses for quantitative T1 mapping to have

The contiguous gene deletion syndrome (CAH-X) was described in a subset (7%) of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients with a TNXA/TNXB chimera, resulting in deletions of CYP21A2, encoding 21-hydroxylase necessary for cortisol biosynthesis, and TNXB, encoding the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-X (TNX). This TNXA/TNXB chimera is characterized by a 120-bp deletion in exon 35 and results in TNXB haploinsufficiency, disrupted TGF-β signaling, and an Ehlers Danlos syndrome phenotype.The objective of the study was to determine the genetic status of TNXB and resulting protein defects in CAH patients with a CAH-X phenotype but not the previously described TNXA/TNXB chimera. Design, Settings, Participants, and Intervention: A total of 246 unrelated CAH patients were screened for TNXB defects. Genetic defects were investigated by Southern blotting, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, Sanger, and next-generation sequencing. Dermal fibroblasts and tissue were used for immunoblotting, immunohistochemical, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments.The genetic and protein status of tenascin-X in phenotypic CAH-X patients was measured.Seven families harbor a novel TNXB missense variant c.12174CG (p.C4058W) and a clinical phenotype consistent with hypermobility-type Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Fourteen CAH probands carry previously described TNXA/TNXB chimeras, and seven unrelated patients carry the novel TNXB variant, resulting in a CAH-X prevalence of 8.5%. This highly conserved pseudogene-derived variant in the TNX fibrinogen-like domain is predicted to be deleterious and disulfide bonded, results in reduced dermal elastin and fibrillin-1 staining and altered TGF-β1 binding, and represents a novel TNXA/TNXB chimera. Tenascin-X protein expression was normal in dermal fibroblasts, suggesting a dominant-negative effect.CAH-X syndrome is commonly found in CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and may result from various etiological mechanisms.

Background Quantitative measurement of T1 in the myocardium may be used to detect both focal and diffuse disease processes such as interstitial fibrosis or edema. A partial volume problem exists when a voxel in the myocardium also contains fat. Partial volume with fat occurs at tissue boundaries or within the myocardium in the case of lipomatous metaplasia of replacement fibrosis, which is commonly seen in chronic myocardial infarction. The presence of fat leads to a bias in T1 measurement. The mechanism for this artifact for widely used T1 mapping protocols using balanced steady state free precession readout and the dependence on off-resonance frequency are described in this paper. Methods Simulations were performed to illustrate the behavior of mono-exponential fitting to bi-exponential mixtures of myocardium and fat with varying fat fractions. Both inversion recovery and saturation recovery imaging protocols using balanced steady state free precession are considered. In-vivo imaging with T1-mapping, water/fat separated imaging, and late enhancement imaging was performed on subjects with chronic myocardial infarction. Results In n = 17 subjects with chronic myocardial infarction, lipomatous metaplasia is evident in 8 patients (47%). Fat fractions as low as 5% caused approximately 6% T1 elevation for the out-of-phase condition, and approximately 5% reduction of T1 for the in-phase condition. T1 bias in excess of 1000 ms was observed in lipomatous metaplasia with fat fraction of 38% in close agreement with simulation of the specific imaging protocols. Conclusions Measurement of the myocardial T1 by widely used balanced steady state free precession mapping methods is subject to bias when there is a mixture of water and fat in the myocardium. Intramyocardial fat is frequently present in myocardial scar tissue due lipomatous metaplasia, a process affecting myocardial infarction and some non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. In cases of lipomatous metaplasia, the T1 biases will be additive or subtractive depending on whether the center frequency corresponds to the myocardium and fat being in-phase or out-of-phase, respectively. It is important to understand this mechanism, which may otherwise lead to erroneous interpretation.

Late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can detect the presence of myocardial infarction from ischemic cardiomyopathies (ICM). However, it is more challenging to detect diffuse myocardial fibrosis from non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) with this technique due to more subtle and heterogeneous enhancement of the myocardium. This study investigates whether high-resolution LGE CMR can detect age-related myocardial fibrosis using quantitative texture analysis with histological validation. LGE CMR of twenty-four rat hearts (twelve 6-week-old and twelve 2-year-old) was performed using a 7T MRI scanner. Picrosirius red was used as the histopathology reference for collagen staining. Fibrosis in the myocardium was quantified with standard deviation (SD) threshold methods from the LGE CMR images and 3D contrast texture maps that were computed from gray level co-occurrence matrix of the CMR images. There was a significant increase of collagen fibers in the aged compared to the young rat histology slices (2.60?0.27 %LV vs. 1.24?0.29 %LV, p

Quantitative assessment of first-pass cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion imaging is useful for detecting coronary artery disease, but it requires the measurement of the arterial input function (AIF) from the left ventricle. This is usually done manually, which is time consuming and subjective. This study presents an automated method for measuring the AIF from the first-pass CMR perfusion images. It was tested on 194 clinical perfusion studies and compared with manual reference measurements. Our results show the proposed method successfully measured 98.79% of the perfusion series, with manual and automated measurements strongly correlating. Temporal statistics were similar for both measurements, showing agreement between the automated and manual AIFs. The automated method, however, more accurately selected the brightest left ventricle pixels and excluded papillary muscles. These improvements may help make AIF measurement and quantitative CMR myocardial perfusion analysis more accurate and readily available.

First-pass dynamic contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is an increasingly important diagnostic tool for coronary artery disease. It is typically performed with breath holding and electrocardiogram gating to minimize motion, but movement caused by residual respiration, cardiac arrhythmia, or missed gating triggers during image acquisition will induce nonrigid deformations of the myocardium that can hamper interpretation and perfusion quantification. We propose an automatic nonrigid image registration framework to correct motion in a series of cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion images. Our method employs reference frame detection combined with robust flow field estimation using a large displacement optical flow formulation coupled with post-hoc image warping and flow field distortion correction. This framework is multi-threadable and can be applied to standard myocardial series, arterial input function series, and proton density weighted images to facilitate perfusion quantification.

The influence of age on the ability of BNP to predict incident heart failure (HF) is poorly described. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of age on the ability of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to predict incident HF. Pro-BNP was measured in a community cohort (the AGES

Background Surface coil-related field inhomogeneity potentially confounds pixel-wise quantitative analysis of perfusion CMR images. This study assessed the effect of surface coil-related field inhomogeneity on the spatial variation of pixel-wise myocardial blood flow (MBF), and assessed its impact on the ability of MBF quantification to differentiate ischaemic from remote coronary territories. Two surface coil intensity correction (SCIC) techniques were evaluated: 1) a proton density-based technique (PD-SCIC) and; 2) a saturation recovery steady-state free precession-based technique (SSFP-SCIC). Methods 26 subjects (18 with significant CAD and 8 healthy volunteers) underwent stress perfusion CMR using a motion-corrected, saturation recovery SSFP dual-sequence protocol. A proton density (PD)-weighted image was acquired at the beginning of the sequence. Surface coil-related field inhomogeneity was approximated using a third-order surface fit to the PD image or a pre-contrast saturation prepared SSFP image. The estimated intensity bias field was subsequently applied to the image series. Pixel-wise MBF was measured from mid-ventricular stress images using the two SCIC approaches and compared to measurements made without SCIC. Results MBF heterogeneity in healthy volunteers was higher using SSFP-SCIC (24.8 ± 4.1%) compared to PD-SCIC (20.8 ± 3.0%; p = 0.009), however heterogeneity was significantly lower using either SCIC technique compared to analysis performed without SCIC (36.2 ± 6.3%). In CAD patients, the difference in MBF between remote and ischaemic territories was minimal when analysis was performed without SCIC (0.06 ± 0.91 mL/min/kg), and was substantially lower than with either PD-SCIC (0.50 ± 0.63 mL/min/kg; p = 0.013) or with SSFP-SCIC (0.63 ± 0.89 mL/min/kg; p = 0.005). In 6 patients, MBF quantified without SCIC was artifactually higher in the stenosed coronary territory compared to the remote territory. PD-SCIC and SSFP-SCIC had similar differences in MBF between remote and ischaemic territories (p = 0.145). Conclusions This study demonstrates that surface coil-related field inhomogeneity can confound pixel-wise MBF quantification. Whilst a PD-based SCIC led to a more homogenous correction than a saturation recovery SSFP-based technique, this did not result in an appreciable difference in the differentiation of ischaemic from remote coronary territories and thus either method could be applied.

Cardiology, Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Manhasset, NY, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Figure 1 A1. A DIR TSE image demonstrates fat in the atrioventricular groove as well as a non-fat-based mass at the mitral annulus. A2. The corresponding T1 map shows a mass with a relatively low T1 value (417 ms) consistent with mitral annular calcification. B1. A DIR TSE SPAIR image demonstrates a catheter-related thrombus in the right atrium. B2. The T1 map shows a mass with an intermediate T1 time (1114 ms). C1. An SSFP image in a patient with metastatic melanoma demonstrates a region of bright signal intensity in the anterior myocardial segment. C2. The relatively low T1 values (~700 ms) of the melanin-rich metastatic foci on the corresponding T1 map facilitate identification of myocardium studded with tumor. Saba et al. Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance 2015, 17(Suppl 1):Q32 http://www.jcmr-online.com/content/17/S1/Q32

Background Coronary perfusion pressure is a combination of proximal perfusion pressure and distal coronary artery pressure resulting from contraction and relaxation of the myocardium and the consequences on the microcirculation. Wave intensity analysis (WIA) defines dominant waves causing coronary filling during the cardiac cycle and allows separation of proximally and distally originating waves.Reduced myocardial perfusion has been shown to predict mortality in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), however no study has assessed the relationship between coronary filling patterns and downstream absolute myocardial perfusion.

Background The purpose of this study was to assess inter-subject and spatial variability of T1 measurements in normal volunteers and investigate potential reasons for non-uniform T1 measurements such as off resonance and imperfect flip angle at 3T. A comparison group of patients with normal studies was used to assess how well findings translate to the clinical setting.

Background Advanced heart failure is linked with structural and functional alterations in the brain. It is unclear whether a graded decrease in cardiac function puts older subjects at risk for brain aging. We investigated the association between cardiac hemodynamics and features of brain aging in community‐dwelling older subjects. Methods and Results With data from a sub‐study (n=931 subjects, mean age 75.9 years, 47.7% male) of the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES)‐Reykjavik Study, we investigated the association of MRI measures of cardiac hemodynamics, including left ventricular stroke volume ( LVSV ) and cardiac output ( CO ) to brain characteristics. In multivariable analyses, each 10 mL lower LVSV was associated with 4.4 mL (95% CI 1.9 to 6.9) lower total parenchymal brain volume ( TBV ) and 3.7 mL (95% CI 1.8 to 5.7) lower gray matter volume ( GMV ). Likewise, each unit (L/min) lower CO was associated with 3.9 mL (95% CI 0.4 to 7.4) lower TBV and 3.9 mL (95% CI 0.4 to 7.4) lower GMV . Lower LVSV was associated with worse performance in processing speed ( P =0.043) and executive function ( P CO was associated with worse performance in processing speed ( P =0.015) and executive function ( P =0.003). Each 10 mL lower LVSV and each unit lower CO associated with a higher risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia (odds ratio: 1.24, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.57 and odds ratio: 1.40, 95% CI 0.99 to 2.00, respectively). Conclusions A graded decrease in cardiac functioning is associated with features of brain aging . Older persons with cardiac or cognitive signs and symptoms may have both cardiac and cerebral diseases and should be evaluated accordingly.