Quantitative assessment of regional left ventricular wall thickness and thickening using 16 multidetector-row computed tomography: comparison with cine magnetic resonance imaging

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of retrospective electrocardiography-gated multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) in the assessment left ventricular (LV) wall thickness and thickening and to test its validity compared to cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a standard of reference. Materials and methods We enrolled 19 patients who underwent both cardiac MDCT and cine MRI. End-diastolic wall thickness (EDWT) and end-systolic wall thickness (ESWT) were measured in 16 myocardial segments. Percent systolic wall thickening (%SWT) was generated from the EDWT and ESWT. Nondiagnostic myocardial segments were excluded. Correlation and agreement between MDCT and cine MRI were analyzed. Results Segmental assessability values were 86.2% (262/304) and 92.1% (280/304) for MDCT and cine MRI, respectively. In assessable segments by both modalities (80.9%, 246/304), a significant correlation between MDCT and MRI was found (r = 0.89, 0.85, and 0.61, for EDWT, ESWT, and %SWT, respectively; all P < 0.05). Mean EDWT and ESWT values by MDCT were slightly lower than those by cine MRI (9.8 ± 3.6 vs. 10.0 ± 3.7 mm and 13.8 ± 4.4 vs. 14.1 ± 4.3 mm, respectively; both P < 0.01). Bland-Altman analysis revealed acceptable limits of agreement between MDCT and Cine MRI. Conclusion MDCT is a feasible method to assess regional LV wall thickness and systolic thickening. Part of this study was presented at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular CT in cooperation with the 7th International Conference on Cardiac CT, Washington, DC, July 13–16, 2006