Excessive iron in tissue can impair endothelial function and reduce microcirculatory blood flow. We hypothesized that resting blood flow in chronic hemorrhagic myocardial infarction (hMI) territories, where iron concentration is known to be significantly elevated, would be lower than in non-hMI territories. We studied this in patients with reperfused myocardial infarction using cardiac MRI over a 6-month period following infarction. Mean relative perfusion index of hMIs were significantly lower than non-hMIs. This finding supports the notion that hypoperfusion within hMI territories may be an important pathological contributor to adverse cardiac remodeling commonly observed in patients with hMIs.
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