[Detection of myocardial fatty components with ultrafast CT]

Intramyocardial fatty components are sometimes depicted by CT of the thorax. However, no studies have investigated the distribution, frequency and cause of these components by using statistical analysis. Three hundred forty-five patients with various cardiac diseases were examined with an ultrafast CT scanner, and intramyocardial fatty components were detected in 15 (4.3%) of them. The frequency of intramyocardial fatty components in each disease was as follows: 6% in ischemic heart disease, 7% in Kawasaki disease, 11% in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), 18% in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 33% in arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD). Except for patients with HCM, the segments of the ventricles, where the fatty components were detected, agreed well with the segments with asynergy in left ventriculography and/or the segments with perfusion defect in T1 myocardial scintigraphy. Thus, ischemic fatty degeneration was considered to be a main factor in the production of intramyocardial fatty components in these diseases. The focus of arrhythmia was sometimes detected in the segments with intramyocardial fatty components in DCM and ARVD cases. It is suspected that intramyocardial fatty components sometimes produce arrhythmia in these diseases.