Cardiac magnetic resonance in the intensive and cardiac care unit

Author(s):  
Juerg Schwitter ◽  
Jens Bremerich

Current applications of cardiac magnetic resonance offer a wide spectrum of indications in the setting of acute cardiac care. In particular, cardiac magnetic resonance is helpful for the differential diagnosis of chest pain through the detection of ischaemia, myocardial stunning, myocarditis, including chemotherapy-induced myocarditis, and pericarditis. Also, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute aortic diseases can be evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance and are important differential diagnoses in patients with acute chest pain. In patients with restricted windows for echocardiography, according to guidelines, cardiac magnetic resonance is the method of choice to evaluate complications of an acute myocardial infarction. In an acute myocardial infarction, cardiac magnetic resonance allows for unique characterization of myocardial damage by quantifying necrosis, microvascular obstruction, oedema (i.e. areas at risk), and haemorrhage. These features will help us to understand better the pathophysiological events during infarction and will also allow us to assess new treatment strategies in acute myocardial infarction. To which extent the information on tissue damage will guide patient management is not yet clear, and further research is ongoing to address this issue. Recent studies also demonstrated the possibility to reduce costs in the management of acute coronary syndromes when cardiac magnetic resonance is integrated into the routine work-up. In the near future, applications of cardiac magnetic resonance will continue to expand in acute cardiac care units, as manufacturers are now strongly focusing on this aspect of user-friendliness. Finally, in the next decade or so, magnetic resonance imaging using other nuclei, such as fluorine and carbon, might become a reality in clinics, which would allow for metabolic and targeted molecular imaging with excellent sensitivity and specificity.

Author(s):  
Juerg Schwitter ◽  
Jens Bremerich

Current applications of cardiac magnetic resonance offer a wide spectrum of indications in the setting of acute cardiac care. In particular, cardiac magnetic resonance is helpful for the differential diagnosis of chest pain by the detection of ischaemia, myocardial stunning, myocarditis, and pericarditis. Also, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute aortic diseases can be evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance and are important differential diagnoses in patients with acute chest pain. In patients with restricted windows for echocardiography, according to guidelines, cardiac magnetic resonance is the method of choice to evaluate complications of an acute myocardial infarction. In an acute myocardial infarction, cardiac magnetic resonance allows for a unique characterization of myocardial damage by quantifying necrosis, microvascular obstruction, oedema (i.e. area at risk), and haemorrhage. These features will help us to understand better the pathophysiological events during infarction and will also allow us to assess new treatment strategies in acute myocardial infarction. To which extent the information on tissue damage will guide patient management is not yet clear, and further research, e.g. in the setting of the European Cardiovascular MR registry, is ongoing to address this issue. Recent studies also demonstrated the possiblity to reduce costs in the management of acute coronary syndromes when cardiac magnetic resonance is integrated into the routine work-up. In the near future, applications of cardiac magnetic resonance will continue to expand in the acute cardiac care units, as manufacturers are now strongly focusing on this aspect of user-friendliness. Finally, in the next decade or so, magnetic resonance imaging of other nuclei, such as fluorine and carbon, might become a reality in clinics, which would allow for metabolic and targeted molecular imaging with excellent sensitivity and specificity.


Author(s):  
Juerg Schwitter ◽  
Jens Bremerich

Current applications of cardiac magnetic resonance offer a wide spectrum of indications in the setting of acute cardiac care. In particular, cardiac magnetic resonance is helpful for the differential diagnosis of chest pain by the detection of ischaemia, myocardial stunning, myocarditis, and pericarditis. Also, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute aortic diseases can be evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance and are important differential diagnoses in patients with acute chest pain. In patients with restricted windows for echocardiography, according to guidelines, cardiac magnetic resonance is the method of choice to evaluate complications of an acute myocardial infarction. In an acute myocardial infarction, cardiac magnetic resonance allows for a unique characterization of myocardial damage by quantifying necrosis, microvascular obstruction, oedema (i.e. area at risk), and haemorrhage. These features will help us to understand better the pathophysiological events during infarction and will also allow us to assess new treatment strategies in acute myocardial infarction. To which extent the information on tissue damage will guide patient management is not yet clear, and further research, e.g. in the setting of the European Cardiovascular MR registry, is ongoing to address this issue. Recent studies also demonstrated the possiblity to reduce costs in the management of acute coronary syndromes when cardiac magnetic resonance is integrated into the routine work-up. In the near future, applications of cardiac magnetic resonance will continue to expand in the acute cardiac care units, as manufacturers are now strongly focusing on this aspect of user-friendliness. Finally, in the next decade or so, magnetic resonance imaging of other nuclei, such as fluorine and carbon, might become a reality in clinics, which would allow for metabolic and targeted molecular imaging with excellent sensitivity and specificity.


Author(s):  
Juerg Schwitter ◽  
Jens Bremerich

Current applications of cardiac magnetic resonance offer a wide spectrum of indications in the setting of acute cardiac care. In particular, cardiac magnetic resonance is helpful for the differential diagnosis of chest pain by the detection of ischaemia, myocardial stunning, myocarditis, and pericarditis. Also, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute aortic diseases can be evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance and are important differential diagnoses in patients with acute chest pain. In patients with restricted windows for echocardiography, according to guidelines, cardiac magnetic resonance is the method of choice to evaluate complications of an acute myocardial infarction. In an acute myocardial infarction, cardiac magnetic resonance allows for a unique characterization of myocardial damage by quantifying necrosis, microvascular obstruction, oedema (i.e. area at risk), and haemorrhage. These features will help us to understand better the pathophysiological events during infarction and will also allow us to assess new treatment strategies in acute myocardial infarction. To which extent the information on tissue damage will guide patient management is not yet clear, and further research, e.g. in the setting of the European Cardiovascular MR registry, is ongoing to address this issue. Recent studies also demonstrated the possiblity to reduce costs in the management of acute coronary syndromes when cardiac magnetic resonance is integrated into the routine work-up. In the near future, applications of cardiac magnetic resonance will continue to expand in the acute cardiac care units, as manufacturers are now strongly focusing on this aspect of user-friendliness. Finally, in the next decade or so, magnetic resonance imaging of other nuclei, such as fluorine and carbon, might become a reality in clinics, which would allow for metabolic and targeted molecular imaging with excellent sensitivity and specificity.


1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. O’Brien ◽  
M. D. Etherington ◽  
S. Jamieson ◽  
J. Sussex

We have previously demonstrated that, relative to controls, patients long after myocardial infarction and patients with atherosclerosis have highly significantly shorter heparin thrombin clotting times (HTCT) using platelet poor plasma; but there was considerable overlap between the two groups.We have now studied 89 patients admitted with acute chest pain. In 54 of these a firm diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (ac-MI) was made and the HTCT was very short (mean 12.8 sees) and in 48 it was less than 16 sees. In 34 patients, ac-MI was excluded and the diagnosis was usually “angina”; the HTCT was much longer (mean 25.1 sees) and in 32 it was over 16 sees. Thus there was almost no overlap between these two groups. It is suggested that this test should be adopted as a quick and reliable further test to establish a diagnosis of ac-MI (providing other reasons for very short HTCTs can be excluded, e.g. D. I. C., and provinding the patient’s thrombin clotting time is normal).This HTCT measures non-specific heparin neutralizing activity; nevertheless the evidence suggests that it is measuring platelet factor 4 liberated from damaged or “activated” platelets into the plasma. These findings underline the probable important contribution of platelets in ac-MI.


Author(s):  
Mahir Abdulkadhum Khudhair Alzughaibi ◽  
Ammar Waheeb Obeiad ◽  
Nassar Abdalaema Abdalhadi Mera ◽  
Mohammed Sadeq Hamzah Al-Ruwaiee

Background: Cardiac Troponins-I (CTNI) are myoregulatory polypeptides that control the actin-myosin interface, considered specific to cardiomyocytes. Age and sex variances in the extent of CTNI levels have arisen a recent debatable emphasis. Existing revisions do not display a reliable clinical power of sex-specific CTNI 99th centiles, which actually might mirror procedural aspects. Nevertheless, from a biochemical viewpoint, the trends of sex-specific CTNI 99th centiles seem sensible for the ruling-in of acute myocardial infarction AMI. Vulnerable females may be missed when applying the male sex-specific threshold. This study aimed to determine whether gender differences in CTNI exist in patients with AMI presented with chest pain. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional, single-center, included 236-patients with AMI diagnosis by cardiologists at Merjan teaching hospital during the period from April to July 2020 from patients attending the hospital for cardiac consultation complaining of acute chest pain suggestive of AMI. Blood analysis had initiated at the time of admission included serum creatinine, blood urea, R/FBS, WBCs, PCV, and serum CTNI. A p-value below 0.05 specifies statistical significance. All statistical bioanalyses had performed by IBM-SPSS, version-25 for Windows. Results: The mean age of participants was 67.5 years, the men were dominant 76.2%. The incidence of DM and hypertension were significantly high and 24.5% of the patients were current smokers. Biochemical serum analysis revealed mean creatinine, urea, sugar, and STI values were 79.8±4.2 mmol/l, 15.9±1.7 mmol/l, 10.9±0.9 mmol/l, and 7.9±0.6 ng/ml separately. Both hypertension and smoking were significantly (p-0.001) more among males compared to the females, which is not the case for the prevalence of DM. The males were heavier significantly than females (p-0.001). Almost, there was no impact of gender on most of the other study variables other than serum TNI levels, which were significantly higher among the males (p-0.001). Conclusion: In patients with AMI presented with acute chest pain, the routine of CTNI in the diagnosis of AMI is based on the patient's gender. The application of gender-dependent cutoff levels for CTNI analyses appears to be highly suggested.


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