BackgroundFibrofatty degeneration of myocardium in ARVC is associated with wall motion abnormalities. The aim of this study was to examine whether Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) based strain analysis using feature tracking (FT) can serve as a quantifiable measure to confirm global and regional ventricular dysfunction in ARVC patients and support the early detection of ARVC.MethodsWe enrolled 20 patients with ARVC, 30 with borderline ARVC and 22 subjects with a positive family history but no clinical signs of a manifest ARVC. 10 healthy volunteers (HV) served as controls. 15 ARVC patients received genotyping for Plakophilin-2 mutation (PKP-2), of which 7 were found to be positive. Cine MR datasets of all subjects were assessed for myocardial strain using FT (TomTec Diogenes Software). Global strain and strain rate in radial, circumferential and longitudinal mode were assessed for the right and left ventricle. In addition strain analysis at a segmental level was performed for the right ventricular free wall.ResultsRV global longitudinal strain rates in ARVC (−0.68 ± 0.36 sec−1) and borderline ARVC (−0.85 ± 0.36 sec−1) were significantly reduced in comparison with HV (−1.38 ± 0.52 sec−1, p ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, in ARVC patients RV global circumferential strain and strain rates at the basal level were significantly reduced compared with HV (strain: −5.1 ± 2.7 vs. -9.2 ± 3.6%; strain rate: −0.31 ± 0.13 sec−1 vs. -0.61 ± 0.21 sec−1). Even for patients with ARVC or borderline ARVC and normal RV ejection fraction (n=30) global longitudinal strain rate proved to be significantly reduced compared with HV (−0.9 ± 0.3 vs. -1.4 ± 0.5 sec−1; p < 0.005). In ARVC patients with PKP-2 mutation there was a clear trend towards a more pronounced impairment in RV global longitudinal strain rate. On ROC analysis RV global longitudinal strain rate and circumferential strain rate at the basal level proved to be the best discriminators between ARVC patients and HV (AUC: 0.9 and 0.92, respectively).ConclusionCMR based strain analysis using FT is an objective and useful measure for quantification of wall motion abnormalities in ARVC. It allows differentiation between manifest or borderline ARVC and HV, even if ejection fraction is still normal.

Background and Purpose: Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) has a high diagnostic value in the detection of acute ischemic stroke in the anterior circulation. However, the diagnostic value in suspected posterior circulation (PC) stroke is uncertain, and whole brain volume perfusion is not yet in widespread use. We therefore studied the additional value of whole brain volume perfusion to non-contrast CT (NCCT) and CT angiography source images (CTA-SI) for infarct detection in patients with suspected acute ischemic PC stroke. Methods: This is a retrospective review of patients with suspected stroke in the PC in a database of our stroke center (n = 3,011) who underwent NCCT, CTA and CTP within 9 h after stroke onset and CT or MRI on follow-up. Images were evaluated for signs and pc-ASPECTS locations of ischemia. Three imaging models - A (NCCT), B (NCCT + CTA-SI) and C (NCCT + CTA-SI + CTP) - were compared with regard to the misclassification rate relative to gold standard (infarction in follow-up imaging) using the McNemar's test. Results: Of 3,011 stroke patients, 267 patients had a suspected stroke in the PC and 188 patients (70.4%) evidenced a PC infarct on follow-up imaging. The sensitivity of Model C (76.6%) was higher compared with that of Model A (21.3%) and Model B (43.6%). CTP detected significantly more ischemic lesions, especially in the cerebellum, posterior cerebral artery territory and thalami. Conclusions: Our findings in a large cohort of consecutive patients show that CTP detects significantly more ischemic strokes in the PC than CTA and NCCT alone.

No abstract

Coronary artery anomalies encompass a clinically and anatomically variable spectrum including physiological variants and pathophysiologically relevant anomalies. The majority of the variants has no hemodynamic relevance and is often detected accidentally. The recognition of the rare and relevant anomalies that cause either relevant shunt volumes leading to myocardial ischemia or ventricular tachyarrhythmias with the risk of sudden cardiac death is of major importance. This review is based on a literature search in PubMed conducted using the key words "coronary artery" and/or "anomaly" and/or "anomalous origin" and/or "myocardial bridging" and/or "coronary artery fistula" and/or "Bland-White-Garland" and/or "ALCAPA". Coronary artery anomalies can be anatomically subdivided into anomalies of origin, course and termination. The method of choice for anatomical imaging is ECG-triggered or gated multislice CT (MSCT) that provides high spatial resolution and the capability of multiplanar reconstructions. It facilitates the delineation of the precise course of all three coronary arteries and thus allows for correct classification in the anatomical classification system of coronary artery anomalies. The strengths of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) are the evaluation of cardiac morphology, myocardial tissue properties and myocardial function. Basic methods are the analysis of myocardial contraction and perfusion with and without pharmacologic stress. Furthermore, potential shunt volumes could be quantified by phase contrast imaging or volumetry. · Coronary artery anomalies are subdivided into anomalies of origin, course and termination.. · The main imaging task is the differentiation of hemodynamically relevant anomalies from anatomic variants.. · The method of choice for anatomical imaging is MSCT, whereas structural and functional information is obtained by CMR. · Heermann P, Heindel W, Schülke C. Coronary Artery Anomalies: Diagnosis and Classification based on Cardiac CT and MRI (CMR) - from ALCAPA to Anomalies of Termination. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2017; 189: 29 - 38.

No abstract