An investigation into potential gender-specific differences in myocardial triglyceride content assessed by 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy at 3Tesla.
OBJECTIVE
Over the past decade, myocardial triglyceride content has become an accepted biomarker for chronic metabolic and cardiac disease. The purpose of this study was to use proton (hydrogen 1)-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) at 3Tesla (3 T) field strength to assess potential gender-related differences in myocardial triglyceride content in healthy individuals.


METHODS
Cardiac MR imaging was performed to enable accurate voxel placement and obtain functional and morphological information. Double triggered (i.e., ECG and respiratory motion gating) (1)H-MRS was used to quantify myocardial triglyceride levels for each gender. Two-sample t-test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for statistical analyses.


RESULTS
In total, 40 healthy volunteers (22 male, 18 female; aged >18 years and age matched) were included in the study. Median myocardial triglyceride content was 0.28% (interquartile range [IQR] 0.17-0.42%) in male and 0.24% (IQR 0.14-0.45%) in female participants, and no statistically significant difference was observed between the genders. Furthermore, no gender-specific difference in ejection fraction was observed, although on average, male participants presented with a higher mean ± SD left ventricular mass (136.3 ± 25.2 g) than female participants (103.9 ± 16.1 g).


CONCLUSIONS
The study showed that (1)H-MRS is a capable, noninvasive tool for acquisition of myocardial triglyceride metabolites. Myocardial triglyceride concentration was shown to be unrelated to gender in this group of healthy volunteers.
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany Petritsch_B@ukw.de.
Bernhard
B
Petritsch
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Herbert
H
Köstler
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Tobias
T
Gassenmaier
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Andreas S
AS
Kunz
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Thorsten A
TA
Bley
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Michael
M
Horn
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011522:Protons; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000378:metabolism*
D011522:Protons; D014280:Triglycerides
1H-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS); Cardiac; gender; magnetic resonance imaging; metabolism; myocardium; triglycerides