Determination of femoral artery endothelial function by phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging

To determine the utility of phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-M RI) measurements of flow-mediated arterial dilation for characterizing peri pheral arterial endothelial function, 10 young healthy subjects and 10 olde r patients with NYHA class II heart failure (HF), associated with left vent ricular systolic dysfunction, underwent femoral artery PC-MRI at rest, duri ng 5 minutes of thigh cuff inflation, and every 30 seconds for 3 minutes af ter cuff deflation. There was a significant (p <0.05) difference in the inc rease in the absolute and percent changes in arterial area, 3.5 +/- 3.0 mm( 2) (13 +/- 12%) for younger patients versus 1.0 +/- 2.5 mm(2) (2 +/- 7%) fo r older patients with HF; thus, PC-MRI can be used to identify differences in flow-mediated arterial dilation that are consistent with differences in peripheral arterial endothelial function previously observed in healthy sub jects and patients with HF.