The potential of multi-slice computed tomography based volumetry for demonstrating reverse remodeling induced by cardiac resynchronization therapy

Abstract Background Multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) was proved to provide precise cardiac volumetric assessment. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an effective treatment for selected patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFREF). In HFREF patients we investigated the potential of MSCT based wall motion analysis in order to demonstrate CRT-induced reversed remodeling. Methods Besides six patients with normal cardiac pump function serving as control group seven HFREF patients underwent contrast enhanced MSCT before and after CRT. Short cardiac axis views of the left ventricle (LV) in end-diastole (ED) and end-systole (ES) served for planimetry. Pre- and post-CRT MSCT based volumetry was compared with 2D echo. To demonstrate CRT-induced reverse remodeling, MSCT based multi-segment color-coded polar maps were introduced. Results With regard to the HFREF patients pre-CRT MSCT based volumetry correlated with 2D echo data for LV-EDV (MSCT 278.3 ± 75.0 mL vs. echo 274.4 ± 85.6 mL) r  = 0.380, p  = 0.401, LV-ESV (MSCT 226.7 ± 75.4 mL vs. echo 220.1 ± 74.0 mL) r  = 0.323, p  = 0.479 and LV-EF (MSCT 20.2 ± 8.8% vs. echo 20.0 ± 11.9%) r  = 0.617, p  = 0.143. Post-CRT MSCT correlated well with 2D echo: LV-EDV (MSCT 218.9 ± 106.4 mL vs. echo 188.7 ± 93.1 mL) r  = 0.87, p  = 0.011, LV-ESV (MSCT 145 ± 71.5 mL vs. echo 125.6 ± 78 mL) r  = 0.84, p  = 0.018 and LV-EF (MSCT 29.6 ± 11.3 mL vs. echo 38.6 ± 14.6 mL) r  = 0.89, p  = 0.007. There was a significant increase of the mid-ventricular septum in terms of absolute LV wall thickening of the responders (pre 0.9 ± 2.1 mm vs. post 3.3 ± 2.2 mm; p Conclusion MSCT based volumetry involving multi-segment color-coded polar maps offers wall motion analysis to demonstrate CRT-induced reverse remodeling which needs to be further validated.