Low-intensity late gadolinium enhancement predominates in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

David M Naeger1, Charles Higgins1, Teresa De Marco2

  • 1Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Ave., M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628.

Clinical Imaging
|March 1, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) shows predominantly low-intensity late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). This suggests that a lower threshold for detecting LGE may be more appropriate for diagnosing HCM.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Medical Imaging
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic heart muscle disease.
  • Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac MRI is used to assess myocardial scarring.
  • The intensity of LGE may vary depending on the underlying pathology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the distribution of low- versus high-intensity LGE in patients with HCM.
  • To compare LGE patterns in HCM with those in myocardial infarction (MI).

Main Methods:

  • Cardiac MRI was used to quantify low- and high-intensity LGE volumes.
  • Indexed LGE volumes were compared between 19 HCM patients and 23 MI patients.

Main Results:

  • Total LGE volume did not significantly differ between HCM and MI groups (P=.13).
  • Low-intensity LGE was significantly more prevalent in HCM (67%) compared to MI (26%) (P<.001).
  • High-intensity LGE was significantly more prevalent in MI compared to HCM (P=.004).

Conclusions:

  • Late gadolinium enhancement in HCM is predominantly characterized by low-intensity signals.
  • A lower threshold for LGE detection may be more suitable for identifying myocardial involvement in HCM.
Abstract

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