Keywords:
Acute, Diagnostic procedure, MR, Cardiac
Authors:
P. Locherer, F. Hahn, K.-F. Kreitner, C. Düber, T. Emrich; Mainz/DE
Purpose
Extracellular volume (ECV) is a promising diagnostic and prognostic imaging biomarker in CMR, because it correlates to histological measurements of extracellular space. ECV is measured by native and post-contrast T1-mapping, e.g. based on a modified look locker sequence (MOLLI). For optimal calculation, a prompt and precise measurement of haematocrit is indispensable. In daily routine, blood drawings in hospital are sometimes delayed or not available from the time point when the CMR takes place. Therefore, delayed haematocrit measurement could lead to imprecise ECV values. Haematocrit can be estimated by the change of the T1 relaxation time of the blood (“synthetic haematocrit”). The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ECV measurements using a synthetic haematocrit (derived from a regression formula) compared to ECV measurements with a “true” (laboratory) haematocrit in a population of dilated cardiomyopathy patients (DCM).