Contrast enhanced cardiac MRI findings of myocardial infarction in different infarction duration

Background: Cardiac MRIis an important tool in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI), and in differentiating acute from chronic cases. Studying the myocardial viability of infracted myocardium is very important for decision making regarding coronary revascularization. Objective: The aim of this work was to study contrast enhanced MRI criteria of acute, subacute and chronic MI , and to evaluate the ability of MRI to differentiate between them. Patients and methods: Sixty patients (54 males and 6 females) with MI of different duration were included in the study. All patients were subjected to c MRI using magnetom Sonata 1.5 T Siemens machine. Ten ml gadolinium was given to every patient. Image analysis was performed, then statistical analysis was done using SPSS program 16. P value was considered significant if > 0.05.Results: Left ventricular dilatation and thin infarction wall were seen more in chronic and subacuteMI. Most cases of MI showed hypokinesia or akinesia regardless the infarction duration. In post contrast images, microvascular obstruction (MVO) was seen more in acute MI, while delayed contrast enhancement was more with chronic MI (due to scar tissue). Conclusion: cMRI could diagnose anatomical and functional abnormalities that associate MI. some criteria were more with acute MI and others were more with chronic MI. however, some degree of overlap was seen between both.