MR Imaging of Myocardial Scar and Coronary Vein Anatomy in Patients Awaiting Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Using a High-Relaxivity Contrast Agent.

Simon Graham Duckett¹, Matthew Ginks¹, Benjamin R. Knowles¹, Amedeo Chiribiri¹, Stephen Sinclair¹, Gerry Carr-White², Aldo Rinaldi², Rene Botnar¹, Eike Nagel¹, Reza Razavi¹, Tobias Schaeffter¹

As Cardiac resynchronization therapy is becoming more widely available for the treatment of patients with heart failure, there has been increased interest in imaging the coronary sinus and its tributaries. Previous studies using CMR have mainly focused on using intravascular contrast agents (CA), which give no useful information about myocardial scar, and require a separate MR-exam to assess scar and viability. Most of these studies patients with normal left ventricular function have been recruited. We present a single CMR examination imaging the coronary venous anatomy and myocardial scar in patients with HF using a high-relaxivity contrast agent.