Noninvasive stress testing of myocardial ischemia: comparison of GRE-MRI perfusion and wall motion analysis to 99 mTc-MIBI-SPECT, relation to coronary angiography

In the evaluation of ischemic heart disease only MR imaging seems to have the potential to assess myocardial perfusion, function, and coronary morphology on a single instrument. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a stress test with dipyridamole (0.56 mg/kg) to analyze myocardial perfusion by Gd first-pass enhancement in ultrafast gradient-recalled-echo MRI (perf-MRI), and wall motion by cine gradient-recalled-echo MRI (Cine-MRI) in one imaging session. Twelve patients underwent complete rest and stress studies; satisfactory MR images were acquired in 10 patients. By 99 m Tc-MIBI-SPECT sensitivities to detect ischemic segments were 66.7 % with Perf-MRI, 80.0 % with WM-MRI and 86.7 % for Perf-WM-MRI (Perf-MRI vs Perf-WM-MRI; p = 0.03). Scar was equally detected with a sensitivity of 91.6 % with either MRI technique. Thus, Perf-Cine-MRI provides complementary information for the management of ischemic heart disease and has a higher sensitivity than Perf-MRI alone.