Gianluca Di Bella1, Fausto Pizzino2, Giovanni Donato Aquaro3, Paolo Piaggi4, Giuseppe Venuti3, Scipione Carerj3, Alessandro Pingitore5. 1. CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy; Clinical and Experimental Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. Electronic address: gianluca.dibella@tiscali.it. 2. Fondazione Toscana G. Monasterio, CNR, Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy; Clinical and Experimental Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. 3. Clinical and Experimental Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. 4. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Endocrinology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. 5. CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored prognosis in patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI) with mild-moderate (MM) left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (D). The aim of our study was to investigate whether combining LV parameters obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) improves risk stratification of patients with previous MI and MM-LV-D. METHODS: In 418 consecutive patients (63.3±11.3years old, female 12.9%) with previous MI, we quantified LVEF, volumes and wall motion score index (WMSI) and measured the infarct extent by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). According to LVEF, patients were considered with normal LVEF (>55%), MM-LV-D (LVEF>30 and ≤55%) and severe (S) LV-D (LVEF ≤30). RESULTS: During follow-up (median, 39.7months) cardiac events (cardiac death or appropriate intra-cardiac defibrillator shocks) occurred in 17/99 of patients with S-LV-D, in 15/201 with MM-LV-D, and in only 1/118 of those with normal LV-EF. After adjustment for age, an extent of LGE >11.3%, a dilated LV (male >112ml/m2; female >92ml/m2) and a WMSI>1.59 were associated with adverse cardiac events in patients with MM-LV-D. In patients with MM-LV-D, when each of these 3 factors was observed, the prognosis was worse respect to those with 1-2 factors and no factor (p=0.035 and p=0.004, respectively). Prognosis was similar (p=0.61) between MM-LV-D patients with all 3 factors and those with S-LV-dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: A multiparametric CMR approach, which includes LGE, dilated LV and WMSI, permits to identify post MI patients with MM-LV-D with a risk of cardiac events similar to those with S-LV-D. Further multicenter studies are needed to confirm our data.
BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored prognosis in patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI) with mild-moderate (MM) left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (D). The aim of our study was to investigate whether combining LV parameters obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) improves risk stratification of patients with previous MI and MM-LV-D. METHODS: In 418 consecutive patients (63.3±11.3years old, female 12.9%) with previous MI, we quantified LVEF, volumes and wall motion score index (WMSI) and measured the infarct extent by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). According to LVEF, patients were considered with normal LVEF (>55%), MM-LV-D (LVEF>30 and ≤55%) and severe (S) LV-D (LVEF ≤30). RESULTS: During follow-up (median, 39.7months) cardiac events (cardiac death or appropriate intra-cardiac defibrillator shocks) occurred in 17/99 of patients with S-LV-D, in 15/201 with MM-LV-D, and in only 1/118 of those with normal LV-EF. After adjustment for age, an extent of LGE >11.3%, a dilated LV (male >112ml/m2; female >92ml/m2) and a WMSI>1.59 were associated with adverse cardiac events in patients with MM-LV-D. In patients with MM-LV-D, when each of these 3 factors was observed, the prognosis was worse respect to those with 1-2 factors and no factor (p=0.035 and p=0.004, respectively). Prognosis was similar (p=0.61) between MM-LV-D patients with all 3 factors and those with S-LV-dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: A multiparametric CMR approach, which includes LGE, dilated LV and WMSI, permits to identify post MI patients with MM-LV-D with a risk of cardiac events similar to those with S-LV-D. Further multicenter studies are needed to confirm our data.