• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• 제2권3호
• /
• pp.121-131
• /
• 2001

Echocardiography and catheterization angiography suffer certain limitations in the evaluation of congenital heart diseases in adults, though these are overcome by MRI, in which a wide field-of view, unlimited multiplanar imaging capability and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography techniques are used. In adults, recently introduced fast imaging techniques provide cardiac MR images of sufficient quality and with less artifacts. Ventricular volume, ejection fraction, and vascular flow measurements, including pressure gradients and pulmonary-to-systemic flow ratio, can be calculated or obtained using fast cine MRI, phase-contrast MR flow-velocity mapping, and semiautomatic analysis software. MRI is superior to echocardiography in diagnosing partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection, unroofed coronary sinus, anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, aorta and systemic veins, complex heart diseases, and postsurgical sequelae. Biventricular function is reliably evaluated with cine MRI after repair of tetralogy of Fallot, and Senning's and Mustard's operations. MRI has an important and growing role in the morphologic and functional assessment of congenital heart diseases in adolescents and adults.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• 제24권4호
• /
• pp.284-293
• /
• 2023

Objective: To validate a simplified ordinal scoring method, referred to as modified length-based grading, for assessing coronary artery calcium (CAC) severity on non-electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated chest computed tomography (CT). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 120 patients (mean age ± standard deviation [SD], 63.1 ± 14.5 years; male, 64) who underwent both non-ECG-gated chest CT and ECG-gated cardiac CT between January 2011 and December 2021. Six radiologists independently assessed CAC severity on chest CT using two scoring methods (visual assessment and modified length-based grading) and categorized the results as none, mild, moderate, or severe. The CAC category on cardiac CT assessed using the Agatston score was used as the reference standard. Agreement among the six observers for CAC category classification was assessed using Fleiss kappa statistics. Agreement between CAC categories on chest CT obtained using either method and the Agatston score categories on cardiac CT was assessed using Cohen's kappa. The time taken to evaluate CAC grading was compared between the observers and two grading methods. Results: For differentiation of the four CAC categories, interobserver agreement was moderate for visual assessment (Fleiss kappa, 0.553 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.496-0.610]) and good for modified length-based grading (Fleiss kappa, 0.695 [95% CI: 0.636-0.754]). The modified length-based grading demonstrated better agreement with the reference standard categorization with cardiac CT than visual assessment (Cohen's kappa, 0.565 [95% CI: 0.511-0.619 for visual assessment vs. 0.695 [95% CI: 0.638-0.752] for modified length-based grading). The overall time for evaluating CAC grading was slightly shorter in visual assessment (mean ± SD, 41.8 ± 38.9 s) than in modified length-based grading (43.5 ± 33.2 s) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The modified length-based grading worked well for evaluating CAC on non-ECG-gated chest CT with better interobserver agreement and agreement with cardiac CT than visual assessment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제14권5호
• /
• pp.2783-2787
• /
• 2013

To assess the risk of cancer incidence after medical radiation exposure for coronary artery disease (CAD), a retrospective cohort study was conducted based on Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Patients with CAD were identified according to the International Classification of Diseases code, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), and their records of medical radiation procedures were collected from 1997 to 2010. A total of 18,697 subjects with radiation exposure from cardiac imaging or therapeutic procedures for CAD were enrolled, and 19,109 subjects receiving cardiac diagnostic procedures without radiation were adopted as the control group. The distributions of age and gender were similar between the two populations. Cancer risks were evaluated by age-adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) and association with cumulative exposure were further evaluated with relative risks by Poisson regression analysis. A total of 954 and 885 subjects with various types of cancers in both cohorts after following up for over 10 years were found, with incidences of 409.8 and 388.0 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. The risk of breast cancer (aIRR=1.85, 95% confidence interval: 1.14-3.00) was significantly elevated in the exposed female subjects, but no significant cancer risk was found in the exposed males. In addition, cancer risks of the breast and lung were increased with the exposure level. The study suggests that radiation exposure from cardiac imaging or therapeutic procedures for CAD may be associated with the increased risk of breast and lung cancers in CAD patients.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• 제22권10호
• /
• pp.1609-1618
• /
• 2021

Objective: Arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is an important cause of sudden cardiac death characterized by fibrosis of the papillary muscles or left ventricle (LV) wall, and an association between late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) of the LV papillary muscles and ventricular arrhythmia in MVP has been reported. However, LGE of the papillary muscles may be observed in other causes of mitral regurgitation, and it is not limited to patients with MVP. This study was to evaluate the association of LGE of the LV papillary muscles or ventricular wall on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and ventricular arrhythmia in patients with mitral regurgitation. Materials and Methods: This study included 88 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 58.3 ± 12.0 years; male, 42%) with mitral regurgitation who underwent CMR. They were allocated to the MVP (n = 43) and non-MVP (n = 45) groups, and their LGE images on CMR, clinical characteristics, echocardiographic findings, and presence of arrhythmia were compared. Results: LV myocardial wall enhancement was more frequent in the MVP group than in the non-MVP group (28% vs. 11%, p = 0.046). Papillary muscle enhancement was observed in 7 (7.9%) patients. Of the 43 patients with MVP, 15 (34.8%) showed LGE in the papillary muscles or LV myocardium, including 12 (27.9%) with LV myocardial wall enhancement and 4 (9.3%) with papillary muscle enhancement. One patient with bilateral diffuse papillary muscle enhancement experienced sudden cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. Univariable logistic regression analysis showed that high systolic blood pressure (BP; odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.09; p = 0.027) and ventricular arrhythmia (OR, 6.84; 95% CI, 1.29-36.19; p = 0.024) were significantly associated with LGE of the papillary muscles. Conclusion: LGE of the papillary muscles was present not only in patients with MVP, but also in patients with other etiologies of mitral regurgitation, and it was associated with high systolic BP and ventricular arrhythmia. Papillary muscle enhancement on CMR should not be overlooked.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• 제23권6호
• /
• pp.581-597
• /
• 2022

Left ventricular (LV) wall thickening, or LV hypertrophy (LVH), is common and occurs in diverse conditions including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), hypertensive heart disease, aortic valve stenosis, lysosomal storage disorders, cardiac amyloidosis, mitochondrial cardiomyopathy, sarcoidosis and athlete's heart. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging provides various tissue contrasts and characteristics that reflect histological changes in the myocardium, such as cellular hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte disarray, interstitial fibrosis, extracellular accumulation of insoluble proteins, intracellular accumulation of fat, and intracellular vacuolar changes. Therefore, CMR imaging may be beneficial in establishing a differential diagnosis of LVH. Although various diseases share LV wall thickening as a common feature, the histologic changes that underscore each disease are distinct. This review focuses on CMR multiparametric myocardial analysis, which may provide clues for the differentiation of thickened myocardium based on the histologic features of HCM and its phenocopies.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.165-169
• /
• 2011

심장점액종은 심장의 가장 흔한 양성 종양이다. 하지만 국소전이와 원격전이의 증례들이 낮은 빈도로 보고되어 있다. 뇌경색을 주소로 내원한 49세 여자 환자의 심장초음파에서 심장 점액종이 발견되었으며 수술로 절제 1년 후에 구음장애가 발생하여 촬영한 자기공명영상에서 여러개의 조영증강이 되는 출혈성뇌전이 병변들이 관찰되었다. 방사선치료 후 추적 자기공명영상에서 병변의 크기들이 작아지는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 양성 종양이지만 심장 점액종은 드물게 지연되어 전이를 보일 수 있다. 저자들은 심장 점액종을 수술로 완전히 절제 후 지연되어 나타난 뇌전이를 경험하여 증례 및 문헌고찰을 하는 바이다.

• 대한영상의학회지
• /
• 제82권5호
• /
• pp.1163-1185
• /
• 2021

급성 심장사는 증상이 시작된 후 한 시간 이내에 발생하는 심장 원인으로 인한 사망이다. 급성 심장사의 원인은 주로 부정맥이지만 동반할 수 있는 기저 심질환들을 사전에 진단하는 것은 장기적 위험을 예측하는 데 중요하다. 심장 CT와 심장 MR은 구조적 심질환을 진단하고 평가하는데 중요한 정보를 제공하여 급성 심장사의 위험을 예측하고 대비할 수 있게 한다. 따라서 임상적으로 중요한 급성 심장사의 위험을 증가시키는 다양한 원인과 영상 소견의 중요성에 대하여 중점적으로 살펴보고자 한다.

• 대한핵의학회지
• /
• 제39권2호
• /
• pp.107-113
• /
• 2005

Pharmacologic stress testing for myocardial perfusion imaging is a widely used noninvasive method for the evaluation of known or suspected coronary artery disease. The use of exercise for cardiac stress has been practiced for over 60 years and clinicians are familial with its using. However, there are inevitabe situations in which exorcise stress is inappropriate. A large number of patients with cardiac problems are unable to exercise to their full potential due to comorbidity such as osteoarthritis, vascular disease and pulmonary disease and a standard exercise stress test for myocardial perfusion imaging is suboptimal means for assessment of coronary artery disease. This problem has led to the development of the pharmacologic stress test and to a great increase in its popularity. All of the currently used pharmacologic agents have well-documented diagnostic value. This review deals the physiological actions, clinical protocols, safety, nuclear imaging applications of currently available stress agents and future development of new vasodilating agents.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• 제19권1호
• /
• pp.19-30
• /
• 2015

Purpose: A new compressed sensing technique by iterative truncation of small transformed coefficients (ITSC) is proposed for fast cardiac CINE MRI. Materials and Methods: The proposed reconstruction is composed of two processes: truncation of the small transformed coefficients in the r-f domain, and restoration of the measured data in the k-t domain. The two processes are sequentially applied iteratively until the reconstructed images converge, with the assumption that the cardiac CINE images are inherently sparse in the r-f domain. A novel sampling strategy to reduce the normalized mean square error of the reconstructed images is proposed. Results: The technique shows the least normalized mean square error among the four methods under comparison (zero filling, view sharing, k-t FOCUSS, and ITSC). Application of ITSC for multi-slice cardiac CINE imaging was tested with the number of slices of 2 to 8 in a single breath-hold, to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of the technique. Conclusion: Reconstructed images with the compression factors of 3-4 appear very close to the images without compression. Furthermore the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and is stable without using matrix inversion during the reconstruction.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• 제43권1호
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2010

배경: 혈관질환 환자는 관상동맥질환 및 심장질환을 많이 동반함으로 인하여 혈관 수술 후 잠재되어 있는 심장질환이 악화 또는 유발될 수 있는 가능성이 있다. 이러한 심장질환을 확인하기 위한 검사중 비교적 간단하고 비침습적인 SPECT 촬영에 대한 효용성은 아직 논란이 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 수술 전 SPECT를 촬영하고, 그 결과에 따른 검사 및 처치들이 혈관 수술 후 심장 합병증 발생에 미치는 임상적인 효과를 평가하고자 한다. 대상 및 방법: 2004년 4월부터 2007년 9월까지 3년 6개월간 본 병원에서 혈관 수술 전 아데노신 부하 Tc-99m 테트로포스민 SPECT를 촬영한 63명의 환자를 대상으로 하였다. 결과: SPECT 촬영 유소견의 심장 합병증 발생 예측에 대한 민감도와 특이도는 각각 41.2%와 52.2%로 비교적 낮게 나왔다. 그러나 비정상적인 SPECT 촬영결과를 보인 환자에게 관상동맥 조영술을 시행하고 관상동맥 병변에 대한 비정상 소견이 있을 때 관상동맥 중재적 시술 및 관상동맥 우회로술 등의 적극적인 처치를 한 경우 심장 합병증의 발생률이 낮은 경향을 보였다. 결론: SPECT 촬영은 혈관수술 후 심장 합병증 발생위험을 예측하기 위한 선별검사로서 효용성이 떨어진다.