Maythem Saeed1, Steven W. Hetts1, Loi Do1, Mark Wilson1
1Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, Ca, United States
The purpose was to differentiate the deleterious effects of major-vessel and micro-vessel occlusion on left ventricular function using MRI. Pigs (n=24) were divided into 3 groups: 1) control (no-infarct), 2) subjected to 90min of LAD artery occlusion/reperfusion and 3) subjected to coronary microemboli delivered into the LAD. At 3 days after coronary intervention, cine and viability images were acquired using MRI. The sizes of homogeneous infarct and microinfarct measured were 171% and 6.20.6% LV mass (P<0.01). Surprisingly, the effect on LV ejection fraction was identical in both interventional procedures, suggesting that different mechanisms govern the decline in LV function.