[Dual-source computed tomography: effect on regional and global left ventricular function assessment compared to...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Radiology
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Accurate assessment of left ventricular (LV) function is crucial in cardiovascular disease diagnosis and management.
• Cardiac MRI is the gold standard for evaluating LV volumes, mass, and function.
• Dual-source CT (DSCT) offers advanced imaging capabilities, but its role in comprehensive LV functional analysis needs further validation against MRI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare regional and global LV functional parameters derived from DSCT with optimized temporal resolution against cardiac MRI.
• To assess segmental wall thickness (SWT) and wall motion (WM) analysis using DSCT versus MRI.

Main Methods:

• 30 patients with known or suspected cardiovascular conditions underwent both DSCT and MRI.
• LV end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), and myocardial mass (MM) were quantified.
• Segmental SWT and WM were analyzed using the AHA 17-segment model.

Main Results:

• DSCT demonstrated strong correlations with MRI for LV-EDV (r=0.96), ESV (r=0.98), EF (r=0.97), SV (r=0.83), and MM (r=0.95).
• Bland-Altman analysis showed minimal systematic differences in LV-EF, EDV, SV, ESV, and MM between DSCT and MRI.
• High agreement was observed in LV wall thickness and WM abnormalities (89% of segments), though DSCT tended to underestimate WM impairment severity.

Conclusions:

• DSCT with optimized temporal resolution provides reliable LV functional and segmental WM analysis, showing good correlation with MRI.
• DSCT is a viable alternative for comprehensive LV assessment, particularly when MRI is contraindicated or unavailable.
• Clinicians should be aware of the potential for DSCT to slightly underestimate the severity of wall motion abnormalities.