COMPARISON OF CARDIAC MAGNETIC RESONANCE AND CARDIAC ULTRASOUND IMAGING FINDINGS IN CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED HEART DISEASES

Abstract

Objective: Nowadays, non-invasive methods are emerging in the evaluation of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging and cardiac ultrasound imaging (Echo) in cardiac patients diagnosed with Echo previously.

Methods: In total of 32 various cardiac patients with Echo findings including congenital and acquired heart pathologies who applied to our clinic were included in the study. The distribution of cardiac pathologies including valve dysfunctions, right and left ventricular wall lesions and movement disorders, atrioventricular hypertrophy, septal defect, pericardial effusion-mass, additional congenital or acquired vascular pathologies and additional thoracic pathology, age and gender correlations were determined. The CMR and Echo findings were compared statistically.

Results: It was found that 12 (37.5%) of the individuals were female, 20 (62.5%) were male, aged between 6 and 80 years with an average age of 29.9 years. The cardiac parameters were positive in 27 (84.4%) patients according to Echo and were positive in 22 (68.8%) patients according to CMR. There was no statistically significant correlation between CMR and Echo for cardiac pathology detection rates (p> 0.05).However, only 18 out of 22  patients who were positive on CMR were positive on Echo. CMR was superior in detecting congenital cardiac pathologies.

Conclusion: Echo has a diagnostic advantage and in general, CMR and Echo findings overlap in cases with valve dysfunctions, ventricular wall motion disorders, and hypertrophy, whereas we found that Echo findings were insufficient for diagnosis of congenital heart pathologies.