Quantitative assessment of regional left ventricular wall thickness and thickening using 16 multidetector-row computed tomography. Comparison with cine magnetic resonance imaging

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of retrospective electrocardiography-gated multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) in the assessment left ventricular (LV) wall thickness and thickening and to test its validity compared to cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a standard of reference. We enrolled 19 patients who underwent both cardiac MDCT and cine MRI. End-dia-stolic wall thickness (EDWT) and end-systolic wall thickness (ESWT) were measured in 16 myocardial segments. Percent systolic wall thickening (%SWT) was generated from the EDWT and ESWT. Nondiagnostic myocardial segments were excluded. Correlation and agreement between MDCT and cine MRI were analyzed. Segmental assessability values were 86.2% (262/304) and 92.1% (280/304) for MDCT and cine MRI, respectively. In assessable segments by both modalities (80.9%, 246/304), a significant correlation between MDCT and MRI was found (r=0.89, 0.85, and 0.61, for EDWT, ESWT, and %SWT, respectively; all P<0.05). Mean EDWT and ESWT values by MDCT were slightly lower than those by cine MRI (9.8±3.6 vs. 10.0±3.7 mm and 13.8±4.4 vs. 14.1±4.3 mm, respectively; both P<0.01). Bland-Altman analysis revealed acceptable limits of agreement between MDCT and Cine MRI. MDCT is a feasible method to assess regional LV wall thickness and systolic thickening. (author)