title: Typical coronary appearance of dilated cardiomyopathy versus left ventricular concentric hypertrophy: coronary volumes measured by multislice computed tomography.
abstract: Several coronary angiographic studies have reported that enlarged and tortuous epicardial coronary arteries are characteristic of patients with left ventricular concentric hypertrophy (LVCH). Recently, we showed that small volumes opacified by contrast medium can be accurately measured by 64-multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and that there is a direct relationship between the coronary artery volume and left ventricular (LV) mass. However, the relationship of coronary artery volume with LV mass in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is unknown. The present study was designed to investigate this issue. Thirteen patients with DCM and 18 patients with LVCH who underwent MSCT angiography were included in this analysis. The coronary arteries were segmented on a workstation, and the appropriate window settings obtained from the results of the phantom experiments were applied to the volume-rendered images to calculate the total coronary artery volume (right and left coronary arteries). The absolute coronary lengths and volumes in patients with LVCH and DCM were greater than those in controls. The coronary artery volumes adjusted for LV mass in patients with DCM were found to be smaller than those in patients with LVCH or in controls, and these values did not differ between patients with LVCH and controls (DCM 4.1 ± 0.9, LVCH 5.4 ± 1.4, controls 5.5 ± 2.3 ml/100 g of LV mass, P < 0.005; DCM vs LVCH, P < 0.01; and DCM vs control, P < 0.0005). This study showed that the increase in the coronary artery volume in patients with LVCH matched the increase in LV mass, but a decreased coronary volume with regard to LV mass was characteristic of patients with DCM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan. ehara@med.osaka-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shoichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehara
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shirai
authors.forename: Koki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iguchi
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshiyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography; D015588:Observer Variation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results