MRI Helps Identify High-Risk Heart Disease Patients

A new study concludes that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are the safest and most effective way to identify patients with suspected coronary heart disease (CHD).

Researchers at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom) conducted a study involving 752 patients being investigated for suspected CHD to establish the ability of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to predict major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), which include cardiovascular death, acute coronary syndrome, unscheduled revascularization, or hospital admission for cardiovascular cause. The patients were followed for a minimum of five years.


The results showed that 99% of the recruited patients had complete follow-up. Of 628 patients who underwent CMR, SPECT, and a standard X-ray angiography, 16.6% had at least one MACE. The researchers found that abnormal findings on CMR and SPECT were both strong and independent predictors of MACE, but after adjustment, only CMR remained a significant predictor for MACE. The study was published on May 10, 2016, in Annals of Internal Medicine.

“The benefits of cardiac MRI are not limited to reducing exposure to ionizing radiation. The non-invasive cardiac MRI test, which is not only more diagnostically accurate and cost effective for the NHS than SPECT, is also potentially better at forecasting the outcome of the disease," said lead author Professor John Greenwood, MB ChB, PhD. "Although SPECT is currently more widely available than MRI, the use of MRI across a wide spectrum of diseases means that it will be much more readily available for heart disease investigation in coming years."

"This research shows that MRI is the best non-invasive way to diagnose significant coronary heart disease in people with chest pain," commented Professor Peter Weissberg, MD, medical director at the British Heart Foundation (Birmingham, United Kingdom). "Having an MRI scan does not involve radiation and the scanners are already widely available in heart centers across the UK, which should aid its rapid adoption in UK diagnostic guidelines."

Related Links:
University of Leeds
British Heart Foundation