Prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities in obese adults referred for bariatric weight loss surgery

Background Obesity is associated with increased risk of death that may be related to underlying structural and functional changes in the heart. Cardiac MR (CMR) can provide detailed structural and functional information about the heart and vasculature that may improve our understanding of obesity related cardiac morbidity and mortality. Methods A cohort of 77 obese patients referred for stress CMR for evaluation of dyspnea prior to weight-loss surgery (WLS) were identified from our research registry. All patients underwent standard vasodilator stress perfusion protocol with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging on a 1.5T MR system. We collected demographic