Pulmonary hemorrhage after TTLB is common but rarely requires intervention. An enlarged mPAD at CT may not be a risk factor for higher-grade hemorrhage.
Background
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (
CMR
) provides useful information for characterizing cardiac masses, but there are limited data on whether
CMR
can accurately distinguish benign from malignant lesions. We aimed to describe the distribution and imaging characteristics of cardiac masses identified by
CMR
and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of
CMR
for distinguishing benign from malignant tumors.
Methods and Results
We examined consecutive patients referred for
CMR
between May 2008 and August 2013 to identify those with a cardiac mass. In patients for whom there was histological correlation, 2 investigators blinded to all data analyzed the
CMR
images to categorize the mass as benign or malignant. For benign masses, readers were also asked to specify the most likely diagnosis. Benign masses were defined as benign neoplastic or non‐neoplastic. Malignant masses were defined as primary cardiac or metastatic. Of 8069 patients (mean age: 58±16 years; 55% female) undergoing
CMR
, 145 (1.8%) had a cardiac mass. In most cases (142, 98%), there was a known cardiac mass before the
CMR
study. Among 145 patients with a cardiac mass, 93 (64%) had a known history of malignancy. Among 53 cases that had histological correlation, 25 (47%) were benign, 26 (49%) were metastatic, and 2 (4%) were malignant primary cardiac masses. Blinded readers correctly diagnosed 89% to 94% of the cases as benign versus malignant, with a 95% agreement rate (κ=0.83).
Conclusions
Although C
MR
can be highly effective in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions, pathology remains the gold standard in accurately determining the type of mass.
Implementation of quarterly feedback reporting resulted in a modest but significant increase in adherence to evidence-based guidelines for use of CT for evaluation of PE in ED patients, enhancing the impact of CDS alone. These results suggest potentially synergistic effects of traditional performance improvement tools with CDS to improve guideline adherence.
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