Differentiating cardiac amyloidosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by use of three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are important differential diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy. The aim of this study was to investigate if three-dimensional (3D) speckle tracking-derived functional parameters enabled differentiation of CA and HCM by a disease-specific pattern. METHODS: Twelve patients with CA and 12 patients with HCM were included. CA and HCM were diagnosed by contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography with wall motion analysis was performed for strain (radial [RS(%)], longitudinal [LS (-%)], and circumferential [CS (-%)]), rotation (ROT [degree]), and twist (TWT [degree]). Intergroup comparison included normalized values from 49 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: Averaged RS, LS, CS, ROT, and TWT were investigated at basal, midventricular, and apical levels. With some exceptions, 3D speckle tracking function parameters were mostly lower in the HCM and minimal in the CA group as compared to controls. Comparing CA and HCM, basal RS was significantly reduced in patients with amyloidosis (7.5 ± 19.7 vs. 22.3 ± 22.7; P < 0.0001), furthermore the "physiological" gradient of basoapically decreasing RS, which was reduced, but still preserved in HCM, showed a clear "inverse pattern" in patients with amyloidosis, comprising a gradual increase from base to apex. Correlation analysis of 3D speckle tracking function and CMR late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) revealed high inverse correlation of RS and LGE in CA (r =-0.82) and only mild correlation in HCM, followed by CS as second best parameter. An increasing/decreasing basoapical RS gradient yielded a sensitivity of 83% versus the CMR-derived diagnosis "CA" and "HCM." CONCLUSIONS: Three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography demonstrated significant differences in CA and HCM. The basoapical RS gradient displayed oppositional characteristics in CA and HCM, suggesting a "function-pattern-based" differentiation of amyloidosis and HCM.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance of myocardial infarction after blunt chest trauma: a heartbreaking soccer-shot.

Cardiac injury occasionally occurs as a result of blunt chest trauma. Most cardiac complications in chest trauma are due to myocardial contusion rather than direct damage to the coronary arteries. However, traumatic coronary injury has been reported, and a variety of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have been proposed. We present a 26 year old patient presenting with an acute coronary syndrome as a consequence of a soccer-shot impact to the chest. CMR showed apical inferior infarction, as well as multiple small septal lesions which were presumed to have resulted from embolization. The culprit lesion was a proximal 75% LAD stenosis with a prominent plaque-rupture and thrombus-formation, and the distal LAD was occluded by thromboembolic material.

Diagnostic synergy of non-invasive cardiovascular magnetic resonance and invasive endomyocardial biopsy in troponin-positive patients without coronary artery disease.

AIMS: Only few data are available regarding a direct comparison of both non-invasive CMR and invasive EMB with respect to conformity of procedure-derived diagnoses in the same patients. The aim of this study was to elucidate the diagnostic performance of non-invasive cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) in patients with troponin-I (TnI) positive acute chest pain in the absence of significant coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS AND RESULTS: One thousand one hundred and seventy-four consecutive patients who were admitted with TnI-positive acute chest pain between March 2004 and July 2007 underwent coronary angiography. In 1012 patients (86%), significant CAD (stenosis >50%) was detected as underlying reason for the acute chest pain. In 82 out of the remaining 162 patients without significant CAD, further workup was performed including both CMR and EMB. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging alone enabled a diagnosis in 66/82 (80%) and EMB alone in 72/82 (88%) patients (P = 0.31). Myocarditis was the most frequent diagnosis by both CMR and EMB in this cohort and was detected with a higher frequency by EMB (58 vs. 81%; P < 0.001). With the combined approach comprising CMR and EMB, a final diagnosis could be established applying the 'Believe-The-Positive-Rule' in 78/82 patients (95%). This combined approach turned out to yield more diagnoses than either CMR (P < 0.001) or EMB (P = 0.03) as single techniques, respectively. Comparison of diagnostic CMR procedures with the corresponding diagnostic EMBs demonstrated a substantial match of diagnoses (kappa = 0.70). CONCLUSION: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and EMB have good diagnostic performances as single techniques in patients with TnI-positive acute chest pain in the absence of CAD. The combined application of CMR and EMB yields a considerable diagnostic synergy by overcoming some limitations of CMR and EMB as individually applied techniques.

Echocardiographic assessment and monitoring of the clinical course in a patient with Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy by a novel 3D-speckle-tracking-strain analysis.

Using real-time 3D-speckle-tracking in the clinical course of Tako-Tsubo turned out as a quick and feasible tool for recognition and follow-up of wall motion abnormalities.

Cardiac involvement in patients with Becker muscular dystrophy: new diagnostic and pathophysiological insights by a CMR approach.

BACKGROUND: Becker-Kiener muscular dystrophy (BMD) represents an X-linked genetic disease associated with myocardial involvement potentially resulting in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Early diagnosis of cardiac involvement may permit earlier institution of heart failure treatment and extend life span in these patients. Both echocardiography and nuclear imaging methods are capable of detecting later stages of cardiac involvement characterised by wall motion abnormalities. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has the potential to detect cardiac involvement by depicting early scar formation that may appear before onset of wall motion abnormalities. METHODS: In a prospective two-center-study, 15 male patients with BMD (median age 37 years; range 11 years to 56 years) underwent comprehensive neurological and cardiac evaluations including physical examination, echocardiography and CMR. A 16-segment model was applied for evaluation of regional wall motion abnormalities (rWMA). The CMR study included late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging with quantification of myocardial damage. RESULTS: Abnormal echocardiographic results were found in eight of 15 (53.3%) patients with all of them demonstrating reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and rWMA. CMR revealed abnormal findings in 12 of 15 (80.0%) patients (p = 0.04) with 10 (66.6%) having reduced LVEF (p = 0.16) and 9 (64.3%) demonstrating rWMA (p = 0.38). Myocardial damage as assessed by LGE-imaging was detected in 11 of 15 (73.3%) patients with a median myocardial damage extent of 13.0% (range 0 to 38.0%), an age-related increase and a typical subepicardial distribution pattern in the inferolateral wall. Ten patients (66.7%) were in need of medical heart failure therapy based on CMR results. However, only 4 patients (26.7%) were already taking medication based on clinical criteria (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Cardiac involvement in patients with BMD is underdiagnosed by echocardiographic methods resulting in undertreatment of heart failure. The degree and severity of cardiac involvement in this population is best characterised when state-of-the-art CMR methods are applied. Further studies need to demonstrate whether earlier diagnosis and institution of heart failure therapy will extend the life span of these patients.