Discordance between echocardiography and MRI in the assessment of mitral regurgitation severity: a prospective multicenter trial.

BACKGROUND: The decision to undergo mitral valve surgery is often made on the basis of echocardiographic criteria and clinical assessment. Recent changes in treatment guidelines recommending surgery in asymptomatic patients make the accurate assessment of mitral regurgitation (MR) severity even more important. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the assessment of MR severity using the degree of left ventricular (LV) remodeling after surgery as the reference standard. METHODS: In this prospective multicenter trial, MR severity was assessed in 103 patients using both echocardiography and MRI. Thirty-eight patients subsequently had isolated mitral valve surgery, and 26 of these had an additional MRI performed 5 to 7 months after surgery. The pre-surgical estimate of regurgitant severity was correlated with the postoperative decrease in LV end-diastolic volume. RESULTS: Agreement between MRI and echocardiographic estimates of MR severity was modest in the overall cohort (r = 0.6; p < 0.0001), and there was a poorer correlation in the subset of patients sent for surgery (r = 0.4; p = 0.01). There was a strong correlation between post-surgical LV remodeling and MR severity as assessed by MRI (r = 0.85; p < 0.0001), and no correlation between post-surgical LV remodeling and MR severity as assessed by echocardiography (r = 0.32; p = 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that MRI is more accurate than echocardiography in assessing the severity of MR. MRI should be considered in those patients when MR severity as assessed by echocardiography is influencing important clinical decisions, such as the decision to undergo MR surgery.

A novel technique to quantify the instantaneous mitral regurgitant rate.

BACKGROUND: The systolic variation of mitral regurgitation (MR) is a pitfall in its quantification. Current recommendations advocate using quantitative echocardiographic techniques that account for this systolic variation. While prior studies have qualitatively described patterns of systolic variation no study has quantified this variation. METHODS: This study includes 41 patients who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) evaluation for the assessment of MR. Systole was divided into 3 equal parts: early, mid, and late. The MR jets were categorized as holosystolic, early, or late based on the portions of systole the jet was visible. The aortic flow and left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV) acquired by CMR were plotted against time. The instantaneous regurgitant rate was calculated for each third of systole as the difference between the LVSV and the aortic flow. RESULTS: The regurgitant rate varied widely with a 1.9-fold, 3.4-fold, and 1.6-fold difference between the lowest and highest rate in patients with early, late, and holosystolic jets respectively. There was overlap of peak regurgitant rates among patients with mild, moderate and severe MR. The greatest variation of regurgitant rate was seen among patients with mild MR. CONCLUSION: CMR can quantify the systolic temporal variation of MR. There is significant variation of the mitral regurgitant rate even among patients with holosystolic MR jets. These findings highlight the need to use quantitative measures of MR severity that take into consideration the temporal variation of MR.

The interaction of exercise ability and body mass index upon long-term outcomes among patients undergoing stress-rest perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography imaging.

BACKGROUND: The obesity paradox has been reported in several populations of patients with cardiovascular disease. Recent data have shown that physical fitness may attenuate the obesity paradox. Patients who undergo pharmacologic stress testing are known to have a higher risk of mortality than those who can exercise. The purpose of this study is to determine the interaction of obesity and exercise ability on survival among patients with a normal stress-rest single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: A total of 5,203 (60 ± 13 years, male 37%) patients without a history of heart disease and a normal stress-rest SPECT between the years 1995 and 2010 were included in this analysis. Body mass index categories were defined according to the World Health Organization classification: normal weight, 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m(2); overweight, 25 to 29.9 kg/m(2); and obese, ≥30 kg/m(2). Patients were divided into 3 groups based on their ability to exercise: those who reached ≥6 METs on exercise, those who attained a level of <6 METs, and those who required pharmacologic stress. Patients in each of these fitness groups were further divided into 3 subgroups based on their body mass index. RESULTS: There were 939 (18%) deaths during a mean follow-up of 8.1 ± 4.1 years, for an overall event rate of 2.3%/y. Both exercise to ≥6 METs and being obese were associated with lower mortality. Adjusted multivariate analysis using the obese high-fit patients as the reference showed a wide heterogeneity in annualized mortality rates according to exercise and weight status, with annualized event rates which varied from 0.6%/y in the obese subjects who were physically fit to 5.3%/y among healthy subjects who underwent pharmacologic stress testing (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Stress mode and body weight impacted long-term survival in patients with a normal stress SPECT. The benefit of being physically fit was evident in all weight groups, as was the adverse effect of being unable to exercise. However, with regard to body weight, there was a paradoxical survival advantage for those patients who were overweight and obese, regardless of their exercise ability.