T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging shows fatty deposition after myocardial infarction.

Pathologic studies have shown an increased lipid content in areas of myocardial infarction (MI). We sought to show the ability of precontrast T1-weighted MRI to noninvasively detect fat deposition in MI and show its association with infarct age. Thirty-two patients with MI were studied. Precontrast inversion-recovery (IR) cine steady-state free precession (SSFP) imaging was used to generate both fat- and muscle-nulled images to locate areas of fat deposition in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium. Postcontrast delayed hyperenhanced (DHE) imaging was also performed. Image contrast in regions of MI on precontrast images and postcontrast DHE images was measured. The association of image contrast with infarct age was determined by means of correlations and Student's t-test. We found a significant association between infarct age and image contrast in both fat- and muscle-nulled images. Precontrast T1-weighted MRI is a promising method for detecting myocardial fat deposition in chronic MI, and can be used to assess myocardial infarct age.