Study of Left Ventricular Dynamics using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Before and after Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasty for Patients with Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis

Abstract

heumatic heart disease is considered the second most common cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality after atherosclerotic vascular disease, particularly in developing countries. Mitral stenosis is the most common valve lesion in chronic RHD. Several mechanisms have been postulated to explain left ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with mitral stenosis, however, there is a controversy regarding the mechanism and the degree of LV affection. CMR tissue tagging is a powerful non-invasive diagnostic tool for quantifying regional systolic and diastolic myocardial function. Owing to the inherent features of CMR tissue characterization and its multi-planar capabilities, CMR tagging is able to reveal previously undetected components of regional myocardial mechanical function and, thus, aid in the early detection and management of a wide range of myocardial disease processes. Moreover, ongoing developments in the technology, imaging techniques, and analytical tools used to implement CMR tagging will likely further advance current capabilities for performing sophisticated analyses of regional myocardial function. As such, myocardial tagging promises to continue to enhance our understanding of the mechanical complexities underlying the function of the normal and abnormal myocardium. The aim of our study was to evaluate the change in the global and regional left ventricular systolic function before and