Agreement between gadolinium-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance and electro-anatomical maps in patients with non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy and ventricular arrhythmias

Europace. 2019 Sep 1;21(9):1392-1399. doi: 10.1093/europace/euz127.

Abstract

Aims: We sought to investigate the overlap between late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and electro-anatomical maps (EAM) of patients with non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) and how it relates with the outcomes after catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias (VA).

Methods and results: We identified 50 patients with NIDCM who received CMR and ablation for VA. Late gadolinium enhancement was detected in 16 (32%) patients, mostly in those presenting with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT): 15 patients. Low-voltage areas (<1.5 mV) were observed in 23 (46%) cases; in 7 (14%) cases without evidence of LGE. Using a threshold of 1.5 mV, a good and partially good agreement between the bipolar EAM and LGE-CMR was observed in only 4 (8%) and 9 (18%) patients, respectively. With further adjustments of EAM to match the LGE, we defined new cut-off limits of median 1.5 and 5 mV for bipolar and unipolar maps, respectively. Most VT exits (12 out of 16 patients) were found in areas with LGE. VT exits were found in segments without LGE in two patients with VT recurrence as well as in two patients without recurrence, P = 0.77. In patients with VT recurrence, the LGE volume was significantly larger than in those without recurrence: 12% ± 5.8% vs. 6.9% ± 3.4%; P = 0.049.

Conclusions: In NIDCM, the agreement between LGE and bipolar EAM was fairly poor but can be improved with adjustment of the thresholds for EAM according to the amount of LGE. The outcomes were related to the volume of LGE.

Keywords: Ablation; Cardiac magnetic resonance; Late gadolinium enhancement; Low-voltage areas; Ventricular tachycardia.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / diagnostic imaging*
  • Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / physiopathology
  • Catheter Ablation
  • Contrast Media
  • Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / methods*
  • Female
  • Gadolinium
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Tachycardia, Ventricular / diagnostic imaging*
  • Tachycardia, Ventricular / physiopathology
  • Tachycardia, Ventricular / surgery
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Ventricular Premature Complexes / diagnostic imaging*
  • Ventricular Premature Complexes / physiopathology
  • Ventricular Premature Complexes / surgery

Substances

  • Contrast Media
  • Gadolinium