Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Apparently Unenhanced Myocardium in Dilated Cardiomyopathy; Evaluation Using Myocardium to Lumen Ratio

Atsushi Kono¹, Naoaki Yamada¹, Teruo Noguchi², Tadashi Watabe¹, Yoko Masukata², Yoshiro Hori¹, Suzu Kanzaki¹, Masahiro Higashi¹, Hiroaki Naito¹

We quantified myocardium-to-lumen signal ratio (M/L) to detect abnormality of apparently non-enhanced myocardium in dilated cardyomyopathy (DCM). We determined variability of normal M/L depending upon time after contrast injection and subject conditions such as heart rate and renal function, and evaluated M/L of DCM without apparent LGE. In the results, normal M/L was almost invariable in time between 2 to 20 minutes after gadolinium administration, and almost invariable depending upon subject conditions. M/L of DCM was significantly higher than M/L of normal myocardium. Higher M/L of DCM suggests increased interstitial tissue due to fibrosis and myocyte atrophy in DCM.