Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the cardiovascular system

Qualitative assessments of the hypertrophied myocardium were performed using spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) and spin-spin relaxation time (T2) obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 15 normotensive patients with asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH), 10 hypertensive patients with concentric hypertrophy (CH) and 5 normal subjects (N). The changes of these values were evaluated related to cardiac cycle, and their usefulness in differentiating diseases. The wall thickness and internal dimension of the left ventricle (LV) in 10 cases were obtained using echocardiography and MRI, and there was a good correlation coefficient in wall thickness (r=0.987) and in internal dimension (r=0.991). Left ventricular short-axis images were obtained using ECG-gated spin-echo sequence (Te=30, 80 msec) and using inversion recovery sequence. T1 and T2 images were calculated at endsystolic and diastolic cardiac phases. The regional wall thickness (WT) and T1 and T2 values were measured in the anterior septum, anterior wall, lateral wall, posterior wall and posterior septum. Myocardial T1 and T2 values were significantly decreased in systole (T1: 185.6±37.9 msec, T2: 24.4±6.3 msec) compared to those in diastole (T1: 249.2±56.7 msec, T2: 31.7±9.4 msec). In both ASH and CH groups, significant correlations were observed between diastolic T1 values and WT (ASH: r=0.80, CH: r=0.45), and between diastolic T2 values and WT (ASH: r=0.58, CH: r=0.60). In the regions where diastolic WT were more than 17 mm, T1 values in the ASH group (343.4±40.5 msec) were significantly higher than those of the CH group (247.3±21.4 msec), although the mean wall thickness values were similar in both groups. These results indicate that myocardial relaxation times are related to cardiac cycle, wall thickness and types of hypertrophy. The T1 and T2 values at diastolic cardiac phase might be useful for distinguishing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from hypertrophy due to hypertension. (author)