title: Comparison of Cine-MRI and Transthoracic Echocardiography for the Assessment of Aortic Root Diameters in Patients with Suspected Marfan Syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with Marfan syndrome require repeated imaging for monitoring of aortic root aneurysms. Therefore, we evaluated the agreement and reproducibility of cine-MRI and echocardiography measurements of the sinuses of Valsalva in patients with suspected Marfan syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  51 consecutive patients with suspected Marfan syndrome were prospectively examined using cine-MRI and echocardiography. Two readers independently measured aortic root diameters at the level of the sinuses of Valsalva in both cine-MRI and echocardiography. Statistics included intraclass correlation coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman analysis, and two-sided t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 38 of the 51 individuals (74.5 %), the diagnosis of Marfan syndrome was established according to the criteria of the Ghent-2 nosology. Cine-MRI measurements of the sinuses of Valsalva revealed a strong correlation with echocardiography (r = 0.929), but a statistically significant bias of -1.0  mm (p < 0.001). The mean absolute diameter for sinuses of Valsalva obtained by cine-MRI was 32.3  ±  5.8 mm as compared to 33.4  ±  5.4 mm obtained by echocardiography. Interobserver agreement of measurements of the sinuses of Valsalva was higher for cine-MRI than for echocardiography (p = 0.029).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite small, but statistically significant differences in terms of agreement and reproducibility, cine-MRI and echocardiographic measurements of aortic root diameters provide comparable results without a significant clinical difference. Therefore both techniques may be used for monitoring of the aortic root in patients with Marfan syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bannas
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Interventional Cardiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rybczynski
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Interventional Cardiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sheikhzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Interventional Cardiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: von Kodolitsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Derlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Section for Pediatric Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000473:pathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic