Cardiac CT With Delayed Enhancement in the Characterization of Ventricular Tachycardia Structural Substrate: Relationship Between CT-Segmented Scar and Electro-Anatomic Mapping

Abstract

Objectives: This study sought to compare myocardial scars depicted by computed tomography (CT) with electrical features from electro-anatomic mapping (EAM), assessing the potential role of CT integration in ventricular tachycardia (VT) and radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) procedures.

Background: Imaging-based characterization of VT myocardial substrate is required to plan EAM and, potentially, to guide RFCA.

Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients, 35 of whom had implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, all referred for VT RFCA, underwent pre-procedural CT including an angiographic and a 10-min delayed-enhancement scan. Segmental comparison between scars segmented from CT and low voltages (bipolar voltages <1.5 mV; unipolar voltages <8 mV), late potentials, and RF ablation points on EAM, was carried out. In a subset of 16 consecutive patients, a further point-by-point analysis was performed: a CT-derived 3-dimensional structure including heart anatomy and myocardial scars was integrated with EAM for quantitative comparison.

Results: CT scans identified scars in 39 patients and defined left ventricular wall involvement and mural distribution. Overall segmental concordance between CT and EAM was good (κ = 0.536) despite the presence of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, scar etiologies, and mural distribution. CT identified segments characterized by low voltages with good sensitivity (76%), good specificity (86%), and very high negative predictive value (95%). Late potentials and RF ablation points fell on scarred segments identified from CT in 79% and 81% of cases, respectively. Point-by-point quantitative comparison revealed good correlation between the average area of scar detected at CT and at bipolar mapping (CT = 4,901 mm(2), bipolar voltages-EAM = 4,070 mm(2); R = 0.78; p < 0.0001). In this study, 70% and 84% of low-amplitude bipolar points were mapped at a maximum distance of 5 mm and 10 mm from CT-segmented scar, respectively.

Conclusions: CT with delayed-enhancement provides a 3-dimensional characterization of VT scar substrate together with a detailed anatomic model of the heart. This information may offer assistance to plan EAM and RFCA procedures and is potentially suitable for EAM-imaging integration.

Keywords: cardiac computed tomography; computed tomography delayed enhancement; electro-anatomic mapping; radiofrequency catheter ablation; ventricular tachycardia.