Background: Pressure-volume (PV) loops provide a wealth of information on cardiac function but are not readily available in clinical routine or in clinical trials. This study aimed to develop and validate a noninvasive method to compute individualized left ventricular PV loops. Methods: The proposed method is based on time-varying elastance, with experimentally optimized model parameters from a training set (n=5 pigs), yielding individualized PV loops. Model inputs are left ventricular volume curves from cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and brachial pressure. The method was experimentally validated in a separate set (n=9 pig experiments) using invasive pressure measurements and cardiovascular magnetic resonance images and subsequently applied to human healthy controls (n=13) and patients with heart failure (n=28). Results: There was a moderate-to-excellent agreement between in vivo-measured and model-calculated stroke work (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.93; bias, −0.02±0.03 J), mechanical potential energy (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.57; bias, −0.04±0.03 J), and ventricular efficiency (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.84; bias, 3.5±2.1%). The model yielded lower ventricular efficiency ( P <0.0001) and contractility ( P <0.0001) in patients with heart failure compared with controls, as well as a higher potential energy ( P <0.0001) and energy per ejected volume ( P <0.0001). Furthermore, the model produced realistic values of stroke work and physiologically representative PV loops. Conclusions: We have developed the first experimentally validated, noninvasive method to compute left ventricular PV loops and associated quantitative measures. The proposed method shows significant agreement with in vivo-derived measurements and could support clinical decision-making and provide surrogate end points in clinical heart failure trials.

In STEMI patients undergoing acute PCI, we found no effect of high-flow oxygen compared with room air on the size of ischemia before PCI, myocardial salvage, or the resulting infarct size. These results support the safety of withholding supplemental oxygen in normoxic STEMI patients.

CMR overestimates IS compared with TTC acutely but not at 7 days. This difference may be explained by higher ECV in MaR closest to the infarct acutely that decreases during 7 days to the same level as the rest of the salvaged MaR. The increased ECV in the MaR closest to the infarct day 1 could be due to severe edema or an admixture of infarcted and salvaged myocardium (partial volume) or both. Nonetheless, this could not be reproduced at 7 days. These results have implications for timing of magnetic resonance infarct imaging early after acute myocardial infarction.

BackgroundCardiovascular-MR (CMR) is the gold standard for quantifying myocardial infarction using late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) technique. Both 2D- and 3D-LGE-sequences are used in clinical practise and in clinical and experimental studies for infarct quantification. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate if image acquisitions with 2D- and 3D-LGE show the same infarct size in patients and ex vivo.MethodsTwenty-six patients with previous myocardial infarction who underwent a CMR scan were included. Images were acquired 10-20 minutes after an injection of 0.2 mmol/kg gadolinium-based contrast agent. Two LGE-sequences, 3D-inversion recovery (IR) and 2D-phase-sensitive (PS) IR, were used in all patients to quantify infarction size. Furthermore, six pigs with reperfused infarction in the left anterior descending artery (40 minutes occlusion and 4 hours of reperfusion) were scanned with 2D- and 3D-LGE ex vivo. A high resolution T1-sequence was used as reference for the infarct quantification ex vivo. Spearman’s rank-order correlation, Wilcoxon matched pairs test and bias according to Bland-Altman was used for comparison of infarct size with different LGE-sequences.ResultsThere was no significant difference between the 2D- and 3D-LGE sequence in left ventricular mass (LVM) (2D: 115 ± 25 g; 3D: 117 ± 24 g: p = 0.35). Infarct size in vivo using 2D- and 3D-LGE showed high correlation and low bias for both LGE-sequences both in absolute volume of infarct (r = 0.97, bias 0.47 ± 2.1 ml) and infarct size as part of LVM (r = 0.94, bias 0.16 ± 2.0%). The 2D- and 3D-LGE-sequences ex vivo correlated well (r = 0.93, bias 0.67 ± 2.4%) for infarct size as part of the LVM. The IR LGE-sequences overestimated infarct size as part of the LVM ex vivo compared to the high resolution T1-sequence (bias 6.7 ± 3.0%, 7.3 ± 2.7% for 2D-PSIR and 3D-IR respectively, p < 0.05 for both).ConclusionsInfarct quantification with 2D- and 3D-LGE gives similar results in vivo with a very low bias. IR LGE-sequences optimized for in vivo use yield an overestimation of infarct size when used ex vivo.

BackgroundAccurate assessment of myocardium at risk (MaR) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is necessary when assessing myocardial salvage. Contrast-enhanced steady-state free precession (CE-SSFP) is a recently developed cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) method for assessment of MaR up to 1 week after AMI. Our aim was to validate CE-SSFP for determination of MaR in an experimental porcine model using myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (MPS) as a reference standard and to test the stability of MaR-quantification over time after injecting gadolinium-based contrast.MethodsEleven pigs were subjected to either 35 or 40 min occlusion of the left anterior descending artery followed by six hours of reperfusion. A technetium-based perfusion tracer was administered intravenously ten minutes before reperfusion. In-vivo and ex-vivo CE-SSFP CMR was performed followed by ex-vivo MPS imaging. MaR was expressed as % of left ventricular mass (LVM).ResultsThere was good agreement between MaR by ex-vivo CMR and MaR by MPS (bias: 1 ± 3% LVM, r 2 = 0.92, p < 0.001), between ex-vivo and in-vivo CMR (bias 0 ± 2% LVM, r 2 = 0.94, p < 0.001) and between in-vivo CMR and MPS (bias -2 ± 3% LVM, r 2 = 0.87, p < 0.001. No change in MaR was seen over the first 30 min after contrast injection (p = 0.95).ConclusionsContrast-enhanced SSFP cine CMR can be used to measure MaR, both in vivo and ex vivo, in a porcine model with good accuracy and precision over the first 30 min after contrast injection. This offers the option to use the less complex ex-vivo imaging when determining myocardial salvage in experimental studies.