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In Vivo Quantitative Assessment of Myocardial Structure, Function, Perfusion and Viability Using Cardiac Micro-computed Tomography
08:13

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Published on: February 16, 2016

Assessment of coronary artery disease by post-mortem cardiac MR

Thomas D Ruder1, Regula Bauer-Kreutz, Garyfalia Ampanozi

  • 1Center of Forensic Imaging and Virtopsy, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. thomas.ruder@irm.uzh.ch

European Journal of Radiology
|July 5, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Chemical shift artifacts (CSA) on post-mortem cardiac MRI can help detect coronary artery disease. Paired dark bands indicate stenosis, improving virtual autopsy accuracy for identifying heart disease deaths.

Area of Science:

  • Forensic Pathology
  • Cardiovascular Imaging
  • Radiology

Background:

  • Traditional autopsies are being supplemented by minimally invasive or virtual methods.
  • Current virtual autopsy techniques have limitations in detecting coronary artery disease.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate chemical shift artifacts (CSA) on post-mortem cardiac MRI as indicators of coronary artery disease.
  • To assess CSA's utility in enhancing virtual autopsy capabilities for identifying deaths related to coronary artery disease.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective comparison of autopsy, CT, and post-mortem cardiac MRI findings in 30 cases.
  • Analysis of coronary artery stenosis (significant, insignificant, absent) against MRI findings.
  • Statistical analysis (chi-square test) to determine the relationship between CSA and stenosis; calculation of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values.

Main Results:

  • Chemical shift artifacts (CSA) correlate with the absence of significant coronary artery stenosis (p<0.001).
  • The presence of paired dark bands, instead of CSA, on post-mortem cardiac MRI suggests significant coronary artery stenosis (p<0.001).
  • Both observed MRI findings demonstrate high specificity but low sensitivity for detecting stenosis.

Conclusions:

  • Chemical shift artifacts (CSA) serve as a marker for coronary artery patency.
  • The identification of paired dark bands on cardiac MRI is indicative of coronary artery stenosis.
  • These MRI-based criteria enhance the diagnostic capabilities of minimally invasive and virtual autopsies for coronary artery disease-related fatalities.
Abstract

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