Delayed-enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance coronary artery wall imaging: comparison with multislice computed tomography and quantitative coronary angiography.
OBJECTIVE
We examined whether delayed-enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (DE-CMR) coronary artery wall imaging correlated with atherosclerosis detected by using multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA).


BACKGROUND
The use of DE-CMR coronary vessel wall imaging may provide a noninvasive method to assess diseased coronary vessel walls.


METHODS
We performed DE-CMR coronary artery wall imaging in 14 patients with cardiovascular risk factors and 6 healthy subjects without risk factors.


RESULTS
A greater prevalence of strong DE was noted with greater MSCT evidence of disease, with DE in 2 (7%) of 30 coronary segments with no plaque by MSCT, in 1 (10%) of 10 segments with noncalcified plaque on MSCT, and in 16 (36%) of 44 segments with calcifications by MSCT (p = 0.009, adjusted p = 0.035). Delayed enhancement was observed in 8 (53%) of 15 segments with >20% coronary artery stenosis by QCA but also in 12 (15%) of 80 segments without angiographically apparent coronary disease (p = 0.004, adjusted p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The use of DE-CMR allowed us to identify areas of DE that correlate with severity of atherosclerosis by MSCT and QCA. This novel approach may be useful for the assessment of coronary vessel wall in patients with suspected coronary artery disease.
Department of Medicine (Cardiovascular Division), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. syeon@bidmc.harvard.edu
Susan B
SB
Yeon
Adeel
A
Sabir
Melvin
M
Clouse
Pedro O
PO
Martinezclark
Dana C
DC
Peters
Thomas H
TH
Hauser
C Michael
CM
Gibson
Reza
R
Nezafat
David
D
Maintz
Warren J
WJ
Manning
René M
RM
Botnar
D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*