title: Comparison of treadmill exercise stress cardiac MRI to stress echocardiography in healthy volunteers for adequacy of left ventricular endocardial wall visualization: A pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare exercise stress cardiac magnetic resonance (cardiac MR) to echocardiography in healthy volunteers with respect to adequacy of endocardial visualization and confidence of stress study interpretation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight healthy volunteers (age 28 ± 11 years, 15 males) underwent exercise stress echo and cardiac MR one week apart assigned randomly to one test first. Stress cardiac MR was performed using an MRI-compatible treadmill; stress echo was performed as per routine protocol. Cardiac MR and echo images were independently reviewed and scored for adequacy of endocardial visualization and confidence in interpretation of the stress study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Heart rate at the time of imaging was similar between the studies. Average time from cessation of exercise to start of imaging (21 vs. 31 s, P < 0.001) and time to acquire stress images (20 vs. 51 s, P < 0.001) was shorter for cardiac MR. The number of myocardial segments adequately visualized was significantly higher by cardiac MR at rest (99.8% vs. 96.4%, P = 0.002) and stress (99.8% vs. 94.1%, P = 0.001). The proportion of subjects in whom there was high confidence in the interpretation was higher for cardiac MR than echo (96% vs. 60%, P = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exercise stress cardiac MR to assess peak exercise wall motion is feasible and can be performed at least as rapidly as stress echo.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA; Peter Munk Cardiac Center, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Paaladinesh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thavendiranathan
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dickerson
authors.forename: Debbie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scandling
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balasubramanian
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pennell
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hinton
authors.forename: Subha V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.forename: Orlando P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Simonetti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D004699:Endocardium / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; echocardiography; endocardial visualization index; exercise stress