The Detectability for the Myocardial Fibrosis by Tagging Imaging on Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Atsushi K. Kono, Pierre Croisille, Tatsuya Nishii, Katsusuke Kyotani, Koya Nishiyama, Mayumi Shigeru, Sachiko Takamine, Sei Fujiwara, Kazuro Sugimura

Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Department of Radiology, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
Department of Radiology, Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, Lyon, France.
Division of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Division of Radiology, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/ojrad.2014.41001                

Abstract

Purpose: Myocardial fibrosis causes cardiac dysfunction, arrhythmias, and sudden death. Tagging imaging on cardiovascular MR can measure the intra-myocardial motion from the dynamic deformation of lines superimposed on the myocardium. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the detectability of myocardial fibrosis using tagging imaging and to compare this with conventional cine imaging. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 4 normal control (NML) subjects, 4 patients with myocarditis (MYO), and 4 patients with old myocardial infarction (ICM). We measured circumferential strain (Ecc) from tagging imaging, and regional wall thickening (rWT) from cine imaging. Fibrosis was determined from a late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) image. We evaluate diagnostic performance by comparing values of the area under curve (AUC) using ROC analysis. Results: Mean values of Ecc and rWT decreased in the area of LGE both in MYO and ICM patients. AUC values of Ecc and rWT in all subjects were 0.98 and 0.84, respectively (p < 0.0001). These values in MYO patients were 0.95 and 0.72 (p = 0.007), respectively, and 0.99 and 0.75, respectively, in ICM patients (p = 0.0008). Conclusions: Both Ecc and rWT decreased in the area with fibrosis in the patients with MYO and ICM. Tagging imaging showed better detectability of myocardial fibrosis than did cine imaging.

Keywords

Tagging Imaging; Late Gadolinium Enhancement; Myocardial Fibrosis; Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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