Semiotics of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in magnetic resonance Imaging

Abstract

Introduction. About 0.2 % of the adult population all over the world suffers from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Early and timely diagnosis of the apical form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy remains an urgent medical problem, since the disease has a wide variability of clinical manifestations and often occurs asymptomatic or with symptoms of other heart diseases. Magnetic resonance imaging is an informative method of radiation diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The aim is improving of radiology diagnostics in applying to the apical form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Materials and methods. 98 patients with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy aged 19 to 76 years were еxamined. There were 48 men and 50 women. All subjects were examined by a cardiologist, all patients underwent electrocardiography and echocardiography, 45 patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart. Results. In our study 13 patients had MRI determined the isolated form of apical form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 32 had combined one. 42.2% of the patients with symmetrical hypertrophy of all apical segments had sawtoothed configuration of the LV revealed by MRI. The symptom of left ventricular cavity obliteration was determined in 19 patients. The symptom of LV cavity sequestration was determined in 5 subjects. 5 patients had an aneurysm on the top of the left ventricle, 1 – on the top of the right ventricle. Signs of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction were visualized in 2 patients, intraventricular obstruction at the level of the middle segments of the left ventricle was determined in 5 cases. Akinesis and hypokinesis were detected in areas of fibrous changes (n=21) or in areas of cardiosclerosis (n=2). In 17.8 % of subjects identified non-compacted myocardium, in 3 cases it was combined with apical form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. With contrast enhancement in 29 patients, foci (n=22) or zones (n=7) of pathological accumulation of contrast agent were determined, which indicated the replacement of myocardium with fibrous tissue.