IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 7 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2307246
Open Access Review
Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Ventricular Arrhythmia Risk Assessment in Chronic Ischemic Cardiomyopathy: An Unmet Need?
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1 Arrhytmia Section, Cardiology Department, Miguel Servet University Hospital, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
*Correspondence: beatrizjg86@gmail.com (Beatriz Jáuregui)
Academic Editor: Sophie Mavrogeni
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(7), 246; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2307246
Submitted: 1 April 2022 | Revised: 21 May 2022 | Accepted: 27 May 2022 | Published: 28 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Cardiology)
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) constitutes a major public health issue, directly involved in the prevalence and incidence of heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias (VA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Severe impairment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is considered a high-risk marker for SCD, conditioning the criteria that determine an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) placement in primary prevention according to current clinical guidelines. However, its sensitivity and specificity values for the prediction of SCD in ICM may not be highest. Myocardial characterization using cardiac magnetic resonance with late gadolinium enhancement (CMR-LGE) sequences has made it possible to answer clinically relevant questions that are currently not assessable with LVEF alone. There is growing scientific evidence in favor of the relationship between fibrosis evaluated with CMR and the appearance of VA/SCD in patients with ICM. This evidence should make us contemplate a more realistic clinical value of LVEF in our daily clinical decision-making.

Keywords
cardiac magnetic resonance
ischemic cardiomyopathy
left ventricular ejection fraction
myocardial infarction
arrhythmogenic substrate
ventricular tachycardia
sudden cardiac death
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