• Julian A Luetkens, Marilia Voigt, Anton Faron, Alexander Isaak, Narine Mesropyan, Darius Dabir, Alois M Sprinkart, Claus C Pieper, Johannes Chang, Ulrike Attenberger, Daniel Kuetting, and Daniel Thomas.
• Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany. julian.luetkens@ukbonn.de.
• J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2020 Sep 7; 22 (1): 63.

BackgroundMyocardial native T1 and T2 relaxation time mapping are sensitive to pathological increase of myocardial water content (e.g. myocardial edema). However, the influence of physiological hydration changes as a possible confounder of relaxation time assessment has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, whether changes in myocardial water content due to dehydration and hydration might alter myocardial relaxation times in healthy subjects.MethodsA total of 36 cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) scans were performed in 12 healthy subjects (5 men, 25.8 ± 3.2 years). Subjects underwent three successive CMR scans: (1) baseline scan, (2) dehydration scan after 12 h of fasting (no food or water), (3) hydration scan after hydration. CMR scans were performed for the assessment of myocardial native T1 and T2 relaxation times and cardiac function. For multiple comparisons, repeated measures ANOVA or the Friedman test was used.ResultsThere was no change in systolic blood pressure or left ventricular ejection fraction between CMR scans (P > 0.05, respectively). T1 relaxation times were significantly reduced with dehydration (987 ± 27 ms [baseline] vs. 968 ± 29 ms [dehydration] vs. 986 ± 28 ms [hydration]; P = 0.006). Similar results were observed for T2 relaxation times (52.9 ± 1.8 ms [baseline] vs. 51.5 ± 2.0 ms [dehydration] vs. 52.2 ± 1.9 ms [hydration]; P = 0.020).ConclusionsDehydration may lead to significant alterations in relaxation times and thereby may influence precise, repeatable and comparable assessment of native T1 and T2 relaxation times. Hydration status should be recognized as new potential confounder of native T1 and T2 relaxation time assessment in clinical routine.

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