Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 3, 2026
Myocardial Infarction and Functional Outcome Assessment in Pigs
Published on: April 25, 2014
Assessment of myocardial infarction in pigs using a rapid clearance blood pool contrast medium
Marc Dewey1, Nicola Kaufels, Michael Laule
1Department of Radiology, Charité, Medical School, Freie Universität und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. marc.dewey@charite.de
Abstract:
Delayed enhancement MRI using extracellular contrast media allows reliable detection of myocardial infarction. If blood pool contrast media like P792 (Vistarem, Guerbet, France), in addition to improving coronary MR angiography, can be shown to also produce delayed enhancement in myocardial infarction they could improve the prerequisites for a comprehensive cardiac MR examination. In this study reperfused myocardial infarction in five minipigs was imaged with an inversion-recovery fast low-angle shot sequence using P792 (0.013 mmol Gd/kg) and the extracellular contrast medium Gd-DOTA (Dotarem, 0.1 mmol Gd/kg, Guerbet). The infarction size determined on MRI using P792 (7.55 +/- 2.31 cm(2)) highly correlated both with histomorphometry (7.81 +/- 2.18 cm(2), r = 0.991, P < 0.002) and with MRI using Gd-DOTA (7.85 +/- 2.35 cm(2), r = 0.978, P < 0.005). Bland-Altman analysis showed that the limit of agreement of MRI using P792 compared to histomorphometry was 3.3 +/- 7.6% of the infarction size. The contrast-to-noise ratio between infarcted and remote myocardium was not significantly different between Gd-DOTA (5.9 +/- 2.4) and P792 (4.4 +/- 1.1, P = 0.5). The blood pool contrast medium P792 allows reliable assessment of viability with good contrast and accuracy.
Insights
Blood pool contrast media like P792 can reliably detect myocardial infarction using delayed enhancement MRI. This finding supports its use in comprehensive cardiac MR examinations for assessing heart attack viability.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Radiology
- Medical Diagnostics
Background:
- Delayed enhancement MRI with extracellular contrast agents is standard for myocardial infarction detection.
- Blood pool contrast agents offer potential for improved coronary MR angiography and could aid in assessing myocardial infarction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of the blood pool contrast agent P792 for delayed enhancement MRI in detecting myocardial infarction.
- To compare the accuracy and contrast-to-noise ratio of P792 with a standard extracellular contrast agent (Gd-DOTA).
Main Methods:
- Reperfused myocardial infarction in minipigs was imaged using an inversion-recovery fast low-angle shot sequence.
- Imaging was performed using P792 (0.013 mmol Gd/kg) and Gd-DOTA (0.1 mmol Gd/kg).
- Infarction size was determined via MRI and compared with histomorphometry.
Main Results:
- MRI using P792 showed high correlation with histomorphometry (r=0.991) and Gd-DOTA (r=0.978) for infarction size.
- Bland-Altman analysis indicated good agreement between P792 MRI and histomorphometry.
- No significant difference in contrast-to-noise ratio was observed between P792 and Gd-DOTA.
Conclusions:
- The blood pool contrast medium P792 enables reliable assessment of myocardial infarction viability.
- P792 demonstrates good contrast and accuracy, comparable to standard extracellular agents.
- P792 can be utilized for comprehensive cardiac MR examinations, including delayed enhancement imaging.
