title: Assessment of coronary artery disease by post-mortem cardiac MR.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Minimally invasive or virtual autopsies are being advocated as alternative to traditional autopsy, but have limited abilities to detect coronary artery disease. It was the objective of this study to assess if the occurrence of chemical shift artifacts (CSA) along the coronary arteries on non-contrast, post-mortem cardiac MR may be used to investigate coronary artery disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively compared autopsy and CT findings of 30 cases with significant (≥75%), insignificant (<75%), or absent coronary artery stenosis to post-mortem cardiac MR findings. The chi-square test was used to investigate if the occurrence of CSA depends on the presence or absence of stenosis. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were calculated for each finding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CSA indicates the absence of (significant) stenosis (p<0.001). The occurrence of paired dark bands in lieu of CSA on post-mortem cardiac MR suggests (significant) coronary arteries stenosis (p<0.001). Both findings have a high specificity but low sensitivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CSA is a marker of vessel patency. The presence of paired dark bands indicates stenosis. These criteria improve the ability of minimally invasive or virtual autopsy to detect coronary artery disease related deaths.
authors: Center of Forensic Imaging and Virtopsy, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. thomas.ruder@irm.uzh.ch
authors: Thomas D
authors: TD
authors: Ruder
authors: Regula
authors: R
authors: Bauer-Kreutz
authors: Garyfalia
authors: G
authors: Ampanozi
authors: Andrea B
authors: AB
authors: Rosskopf
authors: Thomas M
authors: TM
authors: Pilgrim
authors: Oliver M
authors: OM
authors: Weber
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Thali
authors: Gary M
authors: GM
authors: Hatch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D002102:Cadaver; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult