Assessment of myocardial partition coefficient of gadolinium (λ) in dilated cardiomyopathy and its impact on segmental and global systolic function

Purpose 1) To assess the myocardial partition coefficient (λ) of gadolinium quantified using T1 mapping in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); and 2) to assess the impact of increased λ on left ventricular (LV) circumferential strain and ejection fraction in DCM. Materials and Methods Seventeen patients with DCM and 11 controls were prospectively included. All patients and controls underwent a 1.5T MRI using: 1) cine to quantify LV volumes and function; 2) tagging to quantify circumferential strain in mid-LV; 3) T1 mapping before and 9 minutes after contrast injection to quantify R1, ΔR1, and λ; and 4) inversion recovery 3D Flash was used to assess late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) 10 minutes after Gd DOTA injection (0.2 mmol/kg). We used Student's t-test to compare means, Pearson's test for correlation assessment, and a mixed linear model to integrate the dependency between myocardial segments. Results No difference in median λ was measured between patients with (0.52 [interquartile range = 0.48–0.56]) and without enhancement on LGE (0.51 [0.47-0.54]; P = 0.07). Circumferential strain value measured in each segment was correlated with the λ measured in the corresponding segment (r = 0.55; P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed a significant link between the λ in each segment and circumferential strain (0.002 ± 0.001; P = 0.009) and also with ejection fraction (−0.001 ± 0.0008; P = 0.04). Conclusion In DCM, λ correlates independently with circumferential strain and ejection fraction, suggesting that there is a link between λ and systolic function.J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;40:1336–1341. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.