Dr. Monica Trofin Banescu

Cardiologist at European Cardiomyopathy Center

Q&A: What additional data does the MRI bring regarding the diagnostic strategy in HOCM?

The cardiac MR (magnetic resolution) emerges as an investigation with an ideal spatial resolution, in a sense that the quality of images and the specificity of diagnostic could only be equaled by a cardiac tissue biopsy. During a dedicated protocol of image acquisition, a CMR (cardiac MR) is able to provide very detailed information about the severity of the disease and also about the response of the whole heart, for example, if other heart chambers are enlarged or if other associated problems are present. Approaching HOCM, the surgeon needs to have precise information regarding the thickness of the heart and the spatial distribution of the interested area, in order to plan the appropriate excision of the muscular wall. This sort of data is put on the table by a cardiac MR. After administration of contrast, CMR provides information about the presence and also the amount of scar that exists in the heart walls, that is also a very important insight for the surgery planning.

In a standard manner, the cardiac MR is an elective, ambulatory investigation performed in the hospital imagistic Department. The medical team, composed of a radiologist, a cardiologist, a MR-technician and a medical nurse, is always by the side and available at any moment. It takes aprox 40minutes for the technician to plan and acquire all the necessary images of the heart, while the patient is laying in the magnet. After the investigation, the radiologist and cardiologist are doing the post-process of the images and are elaborating the medical result. This completes the set of investigations needed to manage the treatment of HOCM and the panel of results will be discussed in the Heart Team Meeting for each patient at a time.