Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep-Oct;20(5):407-13.
doi: 10.5152/dir.2014.13520.

Quantitative evaluation of ischemic myocardial scar tissue by unenhanced T1 mapping using 3.0 Tesla MR scanner

Aylin Okur  1 , Mecit Kantarcı, Yeşim Kızrak, Sema Yıldız, Berhan Pirimoğlu, Leyla Karaca, Hayri Oğul, Serdar Sevimli
Affiliations

Quantitative evaluation of ischemic myocardial scar tissue by unenhanced T1 mapping using 3.0 Tesla MR scanner

Aylin Okur et al. Diagn Interv Radiol. 2014 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to use a noninvasive method for quantifying T1 values of chronic myocardial infarction scar by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and determine its diagnostic performance.

Materials and methods: We performed cardiac MRI on 29 consecutive patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) on 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner. An unenhanced T1 mapping technique was used to calculate T1 relaxation time of myocardial scar tissue, and its diagnostic performance was evaluated. Chronic scar tissue was identified by delayed contrast-enhancement (DE) MRI and T2-weighted images. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy values were calculated for T1 mapping using DE images as the gold standard.

Results: Four hundred and forty-two segments were analyzed in 26 patients. While myocardial chronic scar was demonstrated in 45 segments on DE images, T1 mapping MRI showed a chronic scar area in 54 segments. T1 relaxation time was higher in chronic scar tissue, compared with remote areas (1314±98 ms vs. 1099±90 ms, P < 0.001). Therefore, increased T1 values were shown in areas of myocardium colocalized with areas of DE and normal signal on T2-weighted images. There was a significant correlation between T1 mapping and DE images in evaluation of myocardial wall injury extent (P < 0.05). We calculated sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy as 95.5%, 97%, and 96%, respectively.

Conclusion: The results of the present study reveal that T1 mapping MRI combined with T2-weighted images might be a feasible imaging modality for detecting chronic myocardial infarction scar tissue.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1. a, b.
Figure 1. a, b.
A 70-year-old man with a known history of myocardial infarction. T1 mapping short-axis image (a) shows transmural infarction areas of segments 7 and 8 (ROI-1) as bright (T1 relaxation time, 1368±61 ms). The magnified image of septal scar tissue is demonstrated as an inset on the left corner. The same image shows relaxation time of remote myocardium (ROI-2, T1 relaxation time: 1129±75 ms). DE-MRI (b) image shows transmural extent of delayed enhancement within the same segments (asterisk).
Figure 2. a, b.
Figure 2. a, b.
A 68-year-old man with a known history of myocardial infarction. T1 mapping image (a) shows transmural infarction areas of segments 9, 10, and 11 (asterisk) as bright. Delayed contrast-enhancement MRI (b) demonstrates transmural infarction areas within the same segments (asterisk).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Graph shows correlation between scar tissue and normal myocardial tissue for T1 mapping.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gersh BJ, Anderson JL. Thrombolysis and myocardial salvage: results of clinical trials and the animal paradigm. Circulation. 1993;88:296–306. - PubMed
    1. Vogel-Claussen J, Rochitte CE, Wu KC, et al. Delayed enhancement MR imaging: utility in myocardial assessment. Radiographics. 2006;26:795–810. - PubMed
    1. Kim RJ, Wu E, Rafael A, Chen EL, et al. The use of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to identify reversible myocardial dysfunction. N Engl J Med. 2000;343:1445–1453. - PubMed
    1. Messroghli DR, Walters K, Plein S, et al. Myocardial T1 mapping: application to patients with acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Magn Reson Med. 2007;58:34–40. - PubMed
    1. Belloni E, Marchesi G, Aschieri D, et al. Inversion time prolongation at late enhancement cardiac MRI in a myeloma patient. Diagn Interv Radiol. 2012;18:552–554. - PubMed

Publication types