The international journal of cardiovascular imaging
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Int J Cardiovasc Imaging · Mar 2016
Comparative StudyIncreased native T1-values at the interventricular insertion regions in precapillary pulmonary hypertension.
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging of the pressure overloaded right ventricle (RV) of precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients, exhibits late gadolinium enhancement at the interventricular insertion regions, a phenomenon which has been linked to focal fibrosis. Native T1-mapping is an alternative technique to characterize myocardium and has the advantage of not requiring the use of contrast agents. The aim of this study was to characterize the myocardium of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), systemic scleroderma related PH (PAH-Ssc) and chronic thromboembolic PH (CTEPH) patients using native T1-mapping and to see whether native T1-values were related to disease severity. ⋯ Native T1-values were not different between IPAH, PAH-Ssc and CTEPH patients. Native T1-values of the interventricular insertion regions are significantly increased in precapillary PH and are related to disease severity. Native T1-mapping can be developed as an alternative technique for the characterization of the interventricular insertion regions and has the advantage of not requiring the use of contrast agents.
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Int J Cardiovasc Imaging · Mar 2016
Regional right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism: relationship with clot burden and biomarker profile.
Regional right ventricular (RV) dysfunction (RRVD) is an echocardiographic feature in acute pulmonary embolism (PE), primarily reported in patients with moderate-to-severe RV dysfunction. This study investigated the clinical importance of RRVD by assessing its relationship with clot burden and biomarkers. We identified consecutive patients admitted to the emergency department between 1999 and 2014 who underwent computed tomographic angiography, echocardiography, and biomarker testing (troponin and NT-proBNP) for suspected acute PE. ⋯ There was a strong trend for higher troponin level in PE patients with RRVD (38 vs. 13% in PE patients without RRVD, p = 0.08), while there was no significant difference for NT-proBNP (67 vs. 73%, p = 0.88). RRVD showed good concordance between readers (87%). RRVD is associated with an increased clot burden in acute PE and is more prevalent among patients with moderate-to-severe RV enlargement and dysfunction.