Cardiac ECV is more robust than post-contrast cardiac T1 for evaluating temporal changes in LV fibrosis

Background Post-contrast cardiac T1 measurement has been reported to be correlated with interstitial fibrosis burden. However, post-contrast cardiac T1 can also be influenced by a variety of confounders, including: cardiac function, renal function, hematocrit, magnetic field strength, contrast agent type and dosage, and specific delayed imaging time after contrast agent administration. To compensate for these confounders, investigators have proposed to measure extracellular volume (ECV). Despite the advantages of ECV over cardiac T1, systematic studies comparing the two measurements are lacking [1]. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of post-contrast cardiac T1 and ECV for evaluating the temporal changes in left ventricular (LV) fibrosis in an established canine model with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF)[2].