Detecting Myocardial Ischemia at Rest with Cardiac Phase-Resolved BOLD CMR

Background—Fast, noninvasive identification of ischemic territories at rest (prior to tissue-specific changes) and assessment of functional status can be valuable in the management of severe coronary artery disease. This study investigated the utility of cardiac phase-resolved Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (CP-BOLD) CMR in detecting myocardial ischemia at rest secondary to severe coronary artery stenosis. Methods and Results—CP-BOLD, standard-cine, and T2-weighted images were acquired in canines (n=11) at baseline and within 20 minutes of ischemia induction (severe LAD stenosis) at rest. Following 3-hours of ischemia, LAD stenosis was removed and T2-weighted and late-gadolinium-enhancement (LGE) images were acquired. From standard-cine and CP-BOLD images, End-Systolic (ES) and End-Diastolic (ED) myocardium were segmented. Affected and remote sections of the myocardium were identified from post-reperfusion LGE images. S/D, quotient of mean ES and ED signal intensities (on CP-BOLD and standard-cine), was computed for affected and remote segments at baseline and ischemia. Ejection fraction (EF) and segmental wall-thickening (sWT) were derived from CP-BOLD images at baseline and ischemia. On CP-BOLD images: S/D was greater than 1 (remote and affected territories) at baseline; S/D was diminished only in affected territories during ischemia and the findings were statistically significant (ANOVA, post-hoc p