Strain-encoded cardiac MRI as an adjunct for dobutamine stress testing: incremental value to conventional wall motion analysis.
BACKGROUND
High-dose dobutamine stress MRI is safe and feasible for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) in humans. However, the assessment of cine scans relies on the visual interpretation of regional wall motion, which is subjective. Recently, strain-encoded MRI (SENC) has been proposed for the direct color-coded visualization of myocardial strain. The purpose of our study was to compare the diagnostic value of SENC with that provided by conventional wall motion analysis for the detection of inducible ischemia during dobutamine stress MRI.


RESULTS
Stress-induced ischemia was assessed by wall motion analysis and by SENC in 101 patients with suspected or known CAD and in 17 healthy volunteers who underwent dobutamine stress MRI in a clinical 1.5-T scanner. Quantitative coronary angiography deemed as the standard reference for the presence or absence of significant CAD (> or =50% diameter stenosis). On a coronary vessel level, SENC detected inducible ischemia in 86 of 101 versus 71 of 101 diseased coronary vessels (P<0.01 versus cine) and showed normal strain response in 189 of 202 versus 194 of 202 vessels with <50% stenosis (P=NS versus cine). On a patient level, SENC detected inducible ischemia in 63 of 64 versus 55 of 64 patients with CAD (P<0.05 versus cine) and showed normal strain response in 32 of 37 versus 34 of 37 patients without CAD (P=NS versus cine). Quantification analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between strain rate reserve and coronary artery stenosis severity (r(2)=0.56, P<0.001), and a cutoff value of strain rate reserve of 1.64 was deemed as a highly accurate marker for the detection of > or =50% stenosis (area under the curve, 0.96; SE, 0.01; 95% CI, 0.94 to 0.98; P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The direct color-coded visualization of strain on MR images is a useful adjunct for dobutamine stress MRI, which provides incremental value for the detection of CAD compared with conventional wall motion readings on cine images.
Korosoglou
Grigorios
G
Department of Cardiology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. gkorosoglou@hotmail.com
Lossnitzer
Dirk
D
Schellberg
Dieter
D
Lewien
Antje
A
Wochele
Angela
A
Schaeufele
Tim
T
Neizel
Mirja
M
Steen
Henning
H
Giannitsis
Evangelos
E
Katus
Hugo A
HA
Osman
Nael F
NF
D000368:Aged; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D004280:Dobutamine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction
D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D004280:Dobutamine