Background:The value of native myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) fraction in patients who have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) but no late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and no hemodynamic obstruction are currently unknown.Purpose: To evaluate myocardial fibrosis in patients with nonobstructive HCM and no LGE by using native myocardial T1 mapping and ECV fraction and to study their relationships to left ventricular (LV) function and LV hypertrophy. Materials and Methods:Patients with HCM who underwent cardiac MRI between 2012 and 2015 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were included if they had no LGE at MRI, LV ejection fraction greater than or equal to 45%, and no LV outflow tract obstruction. Healthy participants had similar age and sex distribution. Native myocardial T1 and ECV were measured with MRI.Results: A total of 258 patients with HCM (mean age 6 standard deviation, 49 years 6 15; 74% men) and 122 healthy participants (mean age, 50 years 6 14; 76% men) were evaluated. Native myocardial T1 was longer and ECV fraction was higher in the patients with HCM relative to the healthy participants (mean native T1, 950 msec 6 48 vs 913 msec 6 46; mean ECV, 24.5% 6 2.8 vs 23.0% 6 2.7; both P , .001). Maximum T1 and ECV values correlated strongly with LV mass index for the entire patient cohort with HCM (both r = 0.86; P , .001) and for the subgroups (r = 0.86 and 0.85 for interventricular septal group and r = 0.88 and 0.86 for apical group; all P , .001). Conclusion:Prolonged myocardial T1 and elevated extracellular volume in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy suggests diffuse myocardial fibrosis, even in the absence of regionally apparent late gadolinium enhancement and hemodynamic obstruction, and is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) four-dimensional (4D) flow is a type of phase-contrast (PC) MRI that uses blood flow encoded in 3 directions, which is resolved relative to 3 spatial and temporal dimensions of cardiac circulation. It can be used to simultaneously quantify and visualize hemodynamics or morphology disorders. 4D flow MRI is more comprehensive and accurate than two-dimensional (2D) PC MRI and echocardiography. 4D flow MRI provides numerous hemodynamic parameters that are not limited to the basic 2D parameters, including wall shear stress (WSS), pulse wave velocity (PWV), kinetic energy, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), pressure gradient, and flow component analysis. 4D flow MRI is widely used to image many parts of the body, such as the neck, brain, and liver, and has a wide application spectrum to cardiac diseases and large vessels. This present review aims to summarize the hemodynamic parameters of 4D flow MRI technology and generalize their usefulness in clinical practice in relation to the cardiovascular system. In addition, we note the improvements that have been made to 4D flow MRI with the application of new technologies. The application of new technologies can improve the speed of 4D flow, which would benefit clinical applications.

Background The role of the dysfunction of left atrium in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular disease has been gradually recognized. We aim to compare the impact on left atrial (LA) function between patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and hypertension (HTN) without LA enlargement using cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT), and if possible, explore the capability of LA function for providing clinical implication and predicting clinical adverse events in the early stage of cardiovascular disease. Methods Consecutive 60 HCM patients and 60 HTN patients with normal LA size among 1413 patients who underwent CMR were retrospectively analyzed as well as 60 controls. Left atrial and ventricular functions were quantified by volumetric and CMR-FT derived strain analysis from long and short left ventricular view cines. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death, stroke, new-onset or worsening heart failure to hospitalization, and paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation. Results Compared to the controls, both HTN and HCM participants had impaired LA reservoir function (εs) and conduit function (εe) with the different stage of LA booster pump dysfunction (εa). LA strain was more sensitive than LV longitudinal strain (GLS) for evaluate primary endpoint (εs: 33.9% ± 7.5 vs. 41.2% ± 14.3, p = 0.02; εe: 13.6% ± 6.2 vs. 17.4% ± 10.4, p = 0.03; εa: 20.2% ± 6.0 vs. 23.7% ± 8.8, p = 0.07; GLS: -19.4% ± 6.4 vs. -20.0% ± 6.8, p = 0.70, respectively). After a mean follow-up of 6.8 years, 23 patients reached primary endpoint. Cox regression analyses indicated impaired LA reservoir and booster pump strain were associated with clinical outcomes in patients at the early stage of HTN and HCM (p < 0.05). Conclusions CMR-FT-derived strain is a potential and robust tool in demonstrating impaired LA mechanics, quantifying LA dynamics and underlining the impacts on LA-LV coupling in patients with HTN and HCM without LA enlargement. The corresponding LA dysfunction is a promising metric to assess clinical implication and predict prognosis at the early stage, superior to GLS.

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