title: Right ventricular wall motion abnormalities found in healthy subjects by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and characterized with a new segmental model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate right ventricular wall motion abnormalities in healthy subjects using a new segmental model for the right ventricle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  29 healthy subjects (9 female, 20 male, mean age 48.9+/-15 years) underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR; 1.5-Tesla Sonata, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) for the evaluation of cardiac function and right ventricular wall motion. A steady-state free precession gradient-echo sequence (TrueFISP) was used. Right ventricular wall motion was analyzed, and the site of areas of disordered motion was classified according to the new segmental model. Such areas were seen in 27 (93.1%) of the 29 subjects. Dyskinesia was found in 22 subjects (75.9%), hypokinesia in 11 (37.9%), and bulging in 8 (27.6%). The number of wall motion abnormalities diagnosed was significantly higher in the transverse plane (86.2%) than in the short-axis plane (13.8%) and the horizontal longitudinal plane (41.4%; p = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Right ventricular wall motion abnormalities are one of the criteria for the diagnosis of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. However, our findings indicate that they may also be seen around the insertion of the moderator band in healthy subjects, so that the significance of their presence at this site in patients undergoing diagnostic investigations for this disease should be interpreted with caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology and Angiology, University of Bochum, Herne, Germany. burkhard.sievers@gmx.de
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sievers
authors.forename: Marvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Addo
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Trappe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020820:Dyskinesias / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology