MRI boosts myocardial infarction assessment

Combining T2-weighted MRI to detect microvascular obstructions with delayed-enhancement imaging to measure tissue viability offers clinicians a better way to assess myocardial infarction, according to a new study from Japan.

“Non–contrast-enhanced MRI alone is not sufficient for accurate diagnosis of acute MI,” said principal investigator Dr. Yoko Mikami, a radiologist at Tsu City's Mie University Hospital.

Mikami and colleagues prospectively enrolled 37 patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction. Patients underwent a protocol including T2-weighted and late-enhanced MRI about five days after the onset of acute myocardial infarction. The investigators found that T2 imaging accurately pinned down areas of microvascular obstruction, which strongly correlate with post-MI hemorrhagic infarction.

The findings appeared in the October issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.