Lunch Symposium: Gadolinium Based Contrast Agent Safety (2019)-The role of GBCA in cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The transcript explains how gadolinium contrast enhances cardiac MRI by improving multiple types of cardiovascular imaging. It is used for first-pass perfusion to detect ischemia, late gadolinium enhancement to identify infarction and scar, T1 imaging and mapping to assess inflammation and fibrosis, and ECV calculations to quantify extracellular expansion. It also improves vascular imaging and 4D flow MRI quality.<br /><br />The speaker describes how normal myocardium, ischemic tissue, and infarcted tissue take up and wash out gadolinium differently, which helps distinguish viable from non-viable heart muscle. Clinical examples show MRI identifying ischemia and non-transmural infarction in patients who may benefit from revascularization. The talk also highlights gadolinium patterns that suggest specific cardiomyopathies such as sarcoidosis, myocarditis, amyloidosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and dilated cardiomyopathy. Finally, late enhancement can help risk-stratify patients for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Keywords

gadolinium contrast

cardiac MRI

late gadolinium enhancement

myocardial ischemia

cardiomyopathy