Rapid evaluation of left ventricular volume and mass without breath-holding using real-time interactive cardiac magnetic resonance imaging system

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to validate cardiac measurements d erived from real-time cardiac magnetic resonance imaging ((MRI) as compared with well-validated conventional cine MRI. BACKGROUND Although cardiac MRI provides accurate assessment of left ventri cular (LV) volume and mass, most techniques have been relatively slow and r equired electrocardiogram (ECG) gating over many heart beats. A newly devel oped real-time MRI system allows continuous real-time dynamic acquisition a nd display without cardiac gating or breath-holding. METHODS Fourteen healthy volunteers and nine patients with heart failure un derwent real-time and tine MRI in the standard short-axis orientation with a 1.5T MRI scanner. Nonbreath-holding tine MRI was performed with ECG gatin g and respiratory compensation. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVED V), left ventricular endsystolic volume (LVESV), ejection fraction (EF) and LV mass calculated from the images obtained by real-time MRI were compared to those obtained by tine MRI. RESULTS The total study time including localization for real-time MRI was s ignificantly shorter than tine MRI (8.6 +/- 2.3 vs. 24.7 +/- 3.5 min, p < 0 .001). Both imaging techniques yielded good quality images allowing cardiac measurements. The measurements of LVEDV, LVESV, EF and LV mass obtained wi th real-time MRI showed close correlation with those obtained with tine MRI (LVEDV: r = 0.985, p < 0.001; LVESV: r = 0.994, p < 0.001; EF: r = 0.975, p < 0.001; LV mass: r = 0.977, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Real-time MRI provides accurate measurements of LV volume and m ass in a time-efficient manner with respect to image acquisition. (J Am Lol l Cardiol 2001;38:527-33) (C) 2001 by the American College of Cardiology.