Myocardial Viability Concepts Myocardial Viability = Delayed Enhancement Increased distribution volume of contrast in necrotic myocardium Occurs within 5-30 minutes post-injection Delayed enhancement suggests acute necrosis or chronic fibrosis Two Phases of Myocardial Enhancement Normal Myocardium Infarcted Myocardium injection Ischemic Myocardium First-Pass Delayed Enhancement < > time Myocardial Viability How does it work ? • Increased distribution volume of contrast agent within necrotic myocardium necrotic • Necrotic tissue has faster T1 recovery than normal tissue following an IR pulse • Adjusting the TI to null normal myocardium gives maximum image contrast between necrotic and normal myocardium tissues normal Coronary Artery Territories AHA Recommendations, Circulation Jan 29, 2002 Mid ventricular slice Basal slice Apical slice 13 12 14 11 15 10 LAD 16 RCA LCX Myocardial Viability How does it work ? R R R ECG Trigger Necrotic Non-selective 180o inversion α1 α2 α3 αn | | Normal data | TI 200 - 300 ms | Non-selective 180o inversion • Data gated to diastole of every other cardiac cycle • TI adjusted to null normal myocardium • Necrotic is brighter than normal myocardium Myocardial Viability Optimizing the TI is Critical • Adjusting the Optimal TI depends on … – Dose of contrast injection – Time between injection and imaging – Relaxation time between IR pulses (# heartbeats skipped) • And TI is time dependent … – Contrast agent in myocardium washes out with time Myocardial Viability What if you select the wrong TI with a typical Magnitude Reconstruction ? • • • if TI is too short -> reversed image contrast if TI is optimal -> optimal image contrast if TI is too long -> reduced image contrast positive signal Infarct Magnitude Reconstruction Normal IR TI TI Short Optimal negative signal TI Long time Myocardial Viability What if you select the wrong TI with a typical Magnitude Reconstruction ? necrotic normal necrotic necrotic normal normal TI = 110 msec TI = 275 msec TI = 450 msec Too short Optimal Too long Reversed Ideal Reduced Image contrast image contrast image contrast ... chronic fibrosis Two Phases of Myocardial Enhancement Normal Myocardium Infarcted Myocardium injection Ischemic Myocardium First-Pass Delayed Enhancement < > time Myocardial Viability How does it work.. .Myocardial Viability = Delayed Enhancement Increased distribution volume of contrast in necrotic myocardium... Jan 29, 2002 Mid ventricular slice Basal slice Apical slice 13 12 14 11 15 10 LAD 16 RCA LCX Myocardial Viability How does it work ? R R R ECG Trigger Necrotic Non-selective 180o inversion α1 α2