Reference values for the left ventricular wall thickness in cardiac MRI in a modified AHA 17-segment model

Background Left ventricular (LV) myocardial wall thickness is influenced by non-ischemic conditions like cardiomyopathies (CMP) as well as ischemic disorders, i. e. coronary artery disease (CAD). For CMP, regional wall thickness under resting conditions has prognostic value and serves as risk predictor for future cardiovascular events. In CAD, aside from perfusion also inadequate dobutamine wall thickening indicates myocardial ischemia and leads to coronary intervention. Therefore, quantitative resting and stress regional wall thickness provides relevant diagnostic and prognostic information. To date there is only scarce data regarding reference values of regional wall thickness in healthy volunteers. We sought to investigate differences in age and gender of LV rest and stress regional wall thickness with a state-of-the-art SSFP sequence in a modified AHA 17segment model and present reference values for myocardial rest and stress wall thickness.