Background Renal Denervation (RDN) is a novel therapy for patients with resistant hypertension. Its cardiac effects at followup are currently unknown. On the other hand, T1 mapping permits the assessment of myocardial extracellular volume (ECV), a parameter proposed to quantify diffuse myocardial fibrosis and independently associated with mortality and hard cardiovascular events. Our aim was to...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To compare partial-breast clinical target volumes generated using a standard 15 mm margin (CTV(standard)) with those generated using three-dimensional surgical excision margins (CTV(tailored 30)) in women who have undergone wide local excision (WLE) for breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-five women underwent WLE with placement of clips in the anterior, deep and ...

Background Atrial fibrosis identification by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) CMR is important as a precursor to atrial fibrillation, and may impact the outcome of catheter ablation. However, the LGE enhancement in the thin atrial wall is difficult to accurately and reproducibly detect. We sought to improve identification of fibrosis through T1-mapping, generating an index of the extracellular...

Background T2 mapping has been shown to detect myocardial oedema as assessed by histology in animals, and is a promising sequence to detect the area at risk in STEMI. The specific cut off value to identify abnormal myocardium in STEMI has not been identified nor have the effects of infarct characteristics on T2 valves. The extra cellular volume fraction (ECV) has been validated against histolog...

Backgrounds and Objective. During the procession of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) in persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), transthoracic electrical cardioversion (ECV) is required to terminate AF. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of additional ECV on cardiac function and recurrence of AF. Methods and Results. Persistent AF patients received extensive encircling pul...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess if peak early diastolic transmitral velocity (E-wave) can be used as a surrogate marker of short-term atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. METHODS We prospectively studied 57 consecutive patients who underwent electrical cardioversion (ECV) for AF and successfully converted to sinus rhythm. N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide levels (BNP) before...

Background Cardiac T1 and extracellular volume fraction (ECV), derived from preand post-contrast cardiac and blood T1 measurements, are emerging imaging biomarkers of diffuse cardiac fibrosis. The most frequently used cardiac T1 mapping pulse sequence is MOLLI [1]. However, MOLLI is known to be sensitive to rapid heart rate and irregular rhythm, because it is based on inversion-recovery (IR) of...

Background Cardiac MR (CMR) is the reference standard for assessing macroscopic myocardial scar. Determination of the extracellular volume fraction (ECV) by T1 estimation using the modified Look-Locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) correction enables quantitation of diffuse fibrosis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and reproducibility of an optimized high-resolution MOLLI ...

BACKGROUND Fetal heart rate abnormalities (FHR) during and after external cephalic version (ECV) are relatively frequent. They may raise concern about fetal wellbeing. Only occasionally they may lead to an emergency cesarean section. METHODS Prospective cohort study in 980 women (> 34 weeks gestation) with a singleton fetus in breech presentation. During and after external cephalic version (E...

The use of tocolvtic agents to enhance uterine relaxation and facilitate external cephalic version (ECV) has come under recent debate. We studied 90 breech presentations in late pregnancy who did not have contra-indications to ECV. The patients were randomised into 3 groups of 30 patients each: one was administered oral salbutamol 4 mg t.d.s.; another had intravenous salbutamol infused until th...