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305 Is real-time CMR really sensitive and specific for pericardial constriction?
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance volume 10, Article number: A108 (2008)
Introduction
CMR has excellent ability to detect the anatomical changes of pericardial thickening. It has been proposed that the physiological changes of constriction manifested by ventricular:ventricular interaction are also well detected using real-time dynamic CMR during inspiration/expiration.
Hypothesis
That real-time dynamic CMR would be sensitive and specific for pericardial constriction.
Methods
42 consecutive patients referred for CMR without any clinical/echo/MRI features of constriction were compared with 8 individuals confirmed operatively to have had constriction using real-time SSFP cine imaging during inspiration/expiration in a short axis view.
Results
88% (7 of 8) of confirmed constriction patients vs 5% (2 of 42) patients without constriction had marked septal flattening (p < 0.001). The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 83%,78% and 83% respectively, Figure 1. Compared to the average control population, the 2 non-constriction patients with marked septal flattening were younger (38 vs 61, p < 0.001) and were both endurance athletes. 12% (5 of 42) of patients without constriction had subtle septal flattening (arbitrarily defined as an inspiratory septal deviation away from baseline of less than the thickness of the septum). The one constriction patient without marked septal flattening was complex with additional pathology (anomalous systemic and pulmonary venous drainage), raising doubts about the surgical gold-standard chosen.
Conclusion
Real-time dynamic CMR is indeed highly sensitive and specific for pericardial constriction provided that a) the septal flattening is marked and b) the individual under investigation is not a young athlete, where marked dynamic septal flattening can be normal.
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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Flett, A., McCarthy, C., Hayward, M. et al. 305 Is real-time CMR really sensitive and specific for pericardial constriction?. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 10 (Suppl 1), A108 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/1532-429X-10-S1-A108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1532-429X-10-S1-A108
Keywords
- Venous Drainage
- Axis View
- Anatomical Change
- Endurance Athlete
- Young Athlete