Diagnostic accuracy of noncompacted-to-compacted wall ratio criteria on CMRI for the diagnosis of left ventricular noncompaction

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the current criterion, noncompacted-to-compacted (NC/C) wall ratio > 2.3 on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) for the diagnosis of left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 37 patients as an LVNC group and a total of 97 participants with ischemic, hypertrophic, and dilated cardiomyopathy and healthy controls as a control group. The NC/C ratio was measured perpendicularly on short-axis cine images for segments 1-16 and four-chamber cine images for the apex during the end-diastole. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of NC/C ratio > 2.3 for the diagnosis of LVNC were calculated. Results: LVNC patients comprised 24 males (64.8%) and 13 females (35.2%) with the mean age of 29.24 ± 11.79 years. The NC/C ratio > 2.3 detected in all but one of the LVNC patients (97.3%). On the other hand, the specificity of NC/C ratio > 2.3 was 79.4% for the diagnosis of the LVNC patients. Using NC/C ratio > 2.66 and > 2.8 yielded 91.9% sensitivity and 97% specificity, and 81% sensitivity and 100% specificity, respectively. Conclusion: NC/C ratio > 2.3 might lead to overdiagnosis of LVNC. We suggest using higher NC/C cutoff value in individuals without high clinical suspicion of LVNC.