Assessment of right ventricular diastolic and systolic function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy using cine magnetic resonance imaging.

Cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide clear endocardial margins of the entire right ventricle, and Simpson's algorithm can be applied to obtain the volumes at multiple phases of the cardiac cycle. Time-volume curves of the right ventricle were obtained by using cine MRI in 10 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and eight normal volunteers to assess right ventricular function. There were no significant differences in volumes and ejection fraction of the right ventricle between the group with DCM and the normal group. In the group with DCM the time to peak filling rate was increased (p less than 0.05) and the filling fraction was decreased (p less than 0.01). In the patients with DCM cine MRI demonstrated normal volumes and ejection fraction of the right ventricle in contradistinction to the marked increase in volumes and the decrease in ejection fraction of the left ventricle; with the use of time-volume curves of the right ventricle, impairment of diastolic function of the right ventricle was demonstrated.