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Correlation of magnetic resonance imaging with histopathology in arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C)
Author(s) -
Tung Kelly,
Raman Subha V.,
King Mark A.,
DePhilip Robert M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
clinical anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1098-2353
pISSN - 0897-3806
DOI - 10.1002/ca.20186
Subject(s) - medicine , histopathology , arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia , cardiomyopathy , magnetic resonance imaging , cardiology , radiology , pathology , heart failure
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is an asymptomatic cardiac disease characterized by fatty infiltration of the right ventricular myocardium and often results in sudden cardiac death. ARVD/C diagnosis includes the assessment of fatty infiltration, which can be achieved noninvasively with cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). The standard CMR protocol places the signal‐generating coil directly on the anterior chest wall and produces a nonspecific high intensity signal that obscures the high signal from fatty infiltration. The aim of this study was to determine whether increasing the coil‐to‐chest distance would improve identification of fatty infiltration. Thoraces from seven embalmed cadavers were imaged on a conventional 1.5 Tesla CMR scanner using the control protocol and an experimental protocol, with a 6 cm coil‐to‐chest distance. A representative axial MR image and corresponding gross section of the heart were analyzed in each case. Fatty infiltration was graded in a blinded fashion on the MR images with independent histopathologic assessment. In five of the seven cases, the experimental protocol provided a correlation between CMR and histopathology that was as good as or better than the control protocol. The experimental protocol was also better in preventing false positive diagnosis in cases of minimal infiltration. Thus, the experimental protocol showed a stronger correlation with histopathology than did the control protocol. Increasing the distance between the anterior surface coil and chest wall may improve classification of presence or absence of fatty infiltration in the right ventricular myocardium, potentially improving the noninvasive detection of ARVD/C with CMR. Clin. Anat. 19:44–50, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.