Multislice Computed Tomography for Preoperative Evaluation of Right Ventricular Volumes and Function: Comparison with Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background: This study was performed to validate preoperative right ventricular measurements obtained from multislice spiral computed tomography data sets in comparison with magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods: Before cardiac surgery, 25 patients (among them 12 patients with compromised right ventricular function) underwent contrast-enhanced retrospectively electrocardiogram-gated multislice spiral computed tomography and cine magnetic resonance imaging in a standardized fashion. Right ventricular end-diastolic, end-systolic and stroke volume, ejection fraction, and myocardial mass were calculated according to the slice summation method. Measurements obtained with both modalities were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), Student's t test for paired samples, and Bland-Altman analysis.

Results: The right ventricle was completely visualized with invariably adequate image quality on all multislice spiral computed tomography and magnetic resonance images. For all measurements a close correlation between multislice spiral computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging was found (end-diastolic volume, r = 0.93; end-systolic volume, r = 0.95; stroke volume, r = 0.91; ejection fraction, r = 0.96; mass, r = 0.94). Mean values of all measurements did not differ significantly between both modalities, and limits of agreement were in an acceptable range.

Conclusions: When compared with magnetic resonance imaging as a reference method, multislice spiral computed tomography seems to be an accurate and reliable noninvasive technique for evaluating right ventricular measurements.