Abstract #0937

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: First-Pass Contrast Bolus Kinetics Contain Information on RV Function, Remodeling & Lung Resistance

Jens Vogel-Claussen^1,2, Jan Skrok², Monda Shehata², David A. Bluemke³, Reda Girgis², Paul M. Hassoun²

¹Tbingen University, Tbingen, BW, Germany; ²Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; ³National Institutes of Health

Predictors of survival in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) include right ventricular (RV) cardiac index (RVCI), mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP), and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Our hypothesis was that first-pass contrast bolus kinetics, such as cardiopulmonary transit time (PTT), left ventricular (LV) full-width-half-maximum (FWHM), and LV time-to-peak are related to these parameters. In our MRI study we showed that in patients with known or suspected PAH, first-pass bolus kinetics are closely related to pulmonary hemodynamics and RV dysfunction. Right-to-left-ventricular PTT is predicted by RV cardiac function and biventricular remodeling; time-to-peak and FWHM are associated with pulmonary vascular resistance.