CINE MRI IN FUNCTIONAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE HEART AFTER MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION - COMPARISON TO ANGIOCARDIOGRAPHY, 2-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, RADIONUCLIDE VENTRICULOGRAPHY AND ENZYMATIC ESTIMATION OF INFARCT SIZE

Purpose: The aim of the study was to test the reliability of cine magn etic resonance imaging (Cine-MRI) on the infarction heart with its alt ered geometry. Material and methods: 61 patients (17 women, 44 men, 36 -83 years, 32 with anterior, 29 with posterior wall infarction) receiv ed Cine-MRI in the true long and short axis of the heart and two-dimen sional echocardiography one and 4 weeks post infarction. Two-level ang iocardiography (ACG) and radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) were perf ormed 4 weeks p.i. The size of myocardial infarction was determined en zymatically with the CK integral method. Left ventricular volume indic es (EDVI, ESVI, SVI), ejection fraction (EF) and infarction weight (IW ) were compared. Results: Excellent correlations existed between Cine- MRI in the long and short axis for the volume indices and EE Between C ine-MRI in the short axis and ACG all correlations were excellent aswe ll. They were significantly less satisfactory between Cine-MRI and 2DE due to the inhomogeneity of echo quality. Cine-MRI and RNV produced s imilar EF results (r = 0.884), and a comparison of IW in Cine-MRI and CK integral method also showed a good correspondence (r = 0.967).Concl usion: Cine-MRI is a reliable method for the morphological and functio nal examination of post-myocardial infarction.