BREATH-HOLD CINE-MRI DURING DIPYRIDAMOLE STRESS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF SEVERE CORONARY ARTERY STENOSIS: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

Breath-hold clue MRI was employed for the identification of severe coronary artery stenoses after 0. 56 mg/kg of dipyridamole was infused. Fourteen patients without myocardial infarction but with ≥70% di- ameter narrowing of 1 or 2 major coronary arteries were studied. Each patient underwent coronary angiog- raphy, MRI at rest and during stress. Segmental wall motion abnormalities were visually assessed in a clue loop, followed by quantitative analysis by calculation of percent systolic wall thickening(%SWth). The re- suits showed that the sensitivities of 70% and 90% were present for the qualitative and quantitative analy- ses, respectively, in respect to the approximate specificities(82 % & 86% ). Further quantitative analysis showed that sensitivities and specificities were 88% and 88% for l-vessel disease versus 92% and 83% for 2-vessel disease; 86 % and 100% for LAD, 100% and 70% for LCX, 89% and 100% for RCA. We con- cluded that quantitative analysis is significantly superior to qualitative analysis for the identification of se- vere coronary stenosis while d ipyridamole- induced wall motion abnormalities were assessed by breath - hold cine MRI.