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Cardiovascular MRI characterized mitral valve prolapse
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Cardiovascular MRI was able to identify mitral valve prolapse using the same criteria as used for transthoracic echocardiography, according to recent data.
Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston sought to establish diagnostic criteria for the use of cardiovascular MRI to assess mitral valve prolapse. They enrolled 25 patients with mitral valve prolapse and 25 control patients. The researchers used transthoracic echocardiography as the clinical gold standard and analyzed cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance images of the prolapse group while measuring leaflet length, leaflet thickness, mitral annular diameters and prolapsed distance.
The researchers concluded that when compared with the control group, patients with mitral valve prolapse had greater blood-to-leaflet contrast ratios. They had longer (10.5 mm/m2 vs. 7.1 mm/m2) and thicker (3.2 mm vs. 2.3 mm) posterior leaflets. They also had enlarged mitral annular diameters (27.8 mm/m2 vs. 21.5 mm/m2 for long axis; 22.9 mm/m2 vs. 17.8 mm/m2 for short axis) by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.
In addition, they also reported the presence of hyperenhancement of the papillary muscles on late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular MRI in 63% of patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias.
JACC Cardiovascular Imaging. 2008;1:294-303.