Computed tomography for planning and postoperative imaging of transvenous mitral annuloplasty: first experience in an animal model.

To investigate the use of computed tomography (CT) to measure the mitral valve annulus size before implantation of a percutaneous mitral valve annuloplasty device in an animal trial. Seven domestic pigs underwent CT before and after implantation of a Cardioband™ (a percutaneously implantable mitral valve annuloplasty device) with a second-generation 128-section dual-source CT machine. Implantation of the Cardioband™ was performed in a standard fashion according to a protocol. Animals were sacrificed afterwards and the hearts explanted. The Cardioband™ was found to be adequately implanted in all animals, with no anchor dehiscence and no damage of the circumflex artery (CX) or the coronary sinus (CS). The correct length of the band as chosen according to the length of the posterior mitral annulus measured in CT before implantation was confirmed in gross examination in all animals. The device did not result in a metal artifact-related degradation of image quality. The closest distance from the closest anchor to the CX was 2.1 ± 0.7 mm in diastole and 1.6 ± 0.5 mm systole. Mitral annulus distance to the CS was 6.4 ± 1.3 mm in diastole and 7.7 ± 1.1 mm in systole. CT visualization and measurement of the mitral valve annulus dimensions is feasible and can become the imaging method of choice for procedure planning of Cardioband™ implantations or other transcatheter mitral annuloplasty devices.