Background: Native T1 mapping is an emerging cardiac magnetic resonance technique for quantitative evaluation of cardiomyopathies. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of native T1 mapping in characterizing myocardial abnormalities in left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) by comparing it with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE).
Methods and results: The study group of 31 LVNC patients and 8 normal controls underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance to acquire the native T1 maps and LGE images. Of the 31 LVNC patients, 14 had LGE. The mean native T1 value of the normal controls, LGE(-) and LGE(+) patients was 1,098.8±40.8 ms, 1140.6±32.8 ms, and 1181.4±53.7 ms, respectively. Significant differences were found in native T1 between any 2 groups (F=9.74, P<0.001). In discriminating the presence of LGE in LVNC patients, the odds ratio and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) of native T1 were, respectively, 2.966 (95% CI: 1.123-7.835, P=0.028) and 4.348 (95% CI: 1.155-16.363, P=0.030) before and after adjusting for confounding factors with an increment of 1 standard deviation.
Conclusions: The finding that LGE(-) patients had elevated native T1 compared with normal controls suggested native T1 mapping can be used earlier than LGE imaging to detect myocardial fibrosis in LVNC patients. Furthermore, higher native T1 values in LGE(+) patients than in the LGE(-) group suggested native T1 mapping is more sensitive than LGE imaging for identifying myocardial fibrosis in LVNC patients. (Circ J 2016; 80: 1210-1216).