Assessment of perfusion and wall-motion abnormalities and transient ischemic dilation in regadenoson stress cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion imaging

Vasodilator first-pass stress cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion imaging [stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)] is a reliable, noninvasive method for evaluating myocardial ischemia; however, it does not routinely evaluate metrics such as wall-motion abnormality (WMA) and transient ischemic dilation (TID). Using the new selective A_2A adenosine receptor agonist regadenoson, we tested a novel protocol for assessing perfusion defects, WMA, and TID in a single stress CMR session. We evaluated 29 consecutive patients who presented for clinically indicated regadenoson stress CMR. Immediately before and after the regadenoson stress perfusion sequence, we obtained baseline and post-stress cine images in the short-axis orientation to detect worsening or newly developed WMAs. This approach also allowed evaluation of TID. Delayed-enhancement imaging was performed in the standard orientations. All patients tolerated the procedure well. Thirteen patients (45 %) had perfusion abnormalities, and four patients developed TID. Seven patients had WMAs, and three of them also had TID. Patients with TID ± WMAs had multivessel disease documented by coronary angiography. By using regadenoson to assess myocardial ischemia during stress CMR, perfusion defects, WMAs, and TID can be evaluated in a single imaging session. To our knowledge, we are the first to describe this novel approach in a vasodilator stress CMR study.