Diagnostic accuracy and variability of three semi-quantitative methods for assessing right ventricular systolic function from cardiac MRI in patients with acquired heart disease.

Jérôme Caudron (1, 2) , Jeannette Fares (1, 2) , Pierre-Hugues Vivier (2) , Valentin Lefebvre (2) , Caroline Petitjean (3) , Jean-Nicolas Dacher (1, 2)

1 Service d'Imagerie Médicale [CHU Rouen]
2 Pharmacologie des Dysfonctionnements Endotheliaux et Myocardiques
3 LITIS - Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Traitement de l'Information et des Systèmes

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and variability of 3 semi-quantitative (SQt) methods for assessing right ventricular (RV) systolic function from cardiac MRI in patients with acquired heart disease: tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), RV fractional-shortening (RVFS) and RV fractional area change (RVFAC). METHODS: Sixty consecutive patients were enrolled. Reference RV ejection fraction (RVEF) was determined from short axis cine sequences. TAPSE, RVFS and RVFAC were measured on a 4-chamber cine sequence. All SQt analyses were performed twice by 3 observers with various degrees of training in cardiac MRI. Correlation with RVEF, intra- and inter-observer variability, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed for each SQt method. RESULTS: Correlation between RVFAC and RVEF was good for all observers and did not depend on previous cardiac MRI experience (R range = 0.716-0.741). Conversely, RVFS (R range = 0.534-0.720) and TAPSE (R range = 0.482-0.646) correlated less with RVEF and depended on previous experience. Intra- and inter-observer variability was much lower for RVFAC than for RVFS and TAPSE. ROC analysis demonstrated that RVFAC <41% could predict a RVEF <45% with 90% sensitivity and 94% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: RVFAC appears to be more accurate and reproducible than RVFS and TAPSE for SQt assessment of RV function by cardiac MRI.

Domaines: Cardiologie et système cardiovasculaire; Imagerie

Jérôme Caudron, Jeannette Fares, Pierre-Hugues Vivier, Valentin Lefebvre, Caroline Petitjean, et al.. Diagnostic accuracy and variability of three semi-quantitative methods for assessing right ventricular systolic function from cardiac MRI in patients with acquired heart disease.. European Radiology, 2011, 21 (10), pp.2111-20. ⟨10.1007/s00330-011-2152-0⟩. ⟨hal-00673389v1⟩