Multiparametric exercise stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease: the EMPIRE trial

J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2021 Mar 4;23(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s12968-021-00705-8.

Abstract

Background: Stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) offers assessment of ventricular function, myocardial perfusion and viability in a single examination to detect coronary artery disease (CAD). We developed an in-scanner exercise stress CMR (ExCMR) protocol using supine cycle ergometer and aimed to examine the diagnostic value of a multiparametric approach in patients with suspected CAD, compared with invasive fractional flow reserve (FFR) as the reference gold standard.

Methods: In this single-centre prospective study, patients who had symptoms of angina and at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor underwent both ExCMR and invasive angiography with FFR. Rest-based left ventricular function (ejection fraction, regional wall motion abnormalities), tissue characteristics and exercise stress-derived (perfusion defects, inducible regional wall motion abnormalities and peak exercise cardiac index percentile-rank) CMR parameters were evaluated in the study.

Results: In the 60 recruited patients with intermediate CAD risk, 50% had haemodynamically significant CAD based on FFR. Of all the CMR parameters assessed, the late gadolinium enhancement, stress-inducible regional wall motion abnormalities, perfusion defects and peak exercise cardiac index percentile-rank were independently associated with FFR-positive CAD. Indeed, this multiparametric approach offered the highest incremental diagnostic value compared to a clinical risk model (χ2 for the diagnosis of FFR-positive increased from 7.6 to 55.9; P < 0.001) and excellent performance [c-statistic area under the curve 0.97 (95% CI: 0.94-1.00)] in discriminating between FFR-normal and FFR-positive patients.

Conclusion: The study demonstrates the clinical potential of using in-scanner multiparametric ExCMR to accurately diagnose CAD.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03217227, Registered 11 July 2017-Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03217227?id=NCT03217227&draw=2&rank=1&load=cart.

Keywords: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance; Coronary artery disease; Exercise stress; Fractional flow reserve; Supine cycle ergometer.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Bicycling
  • Coronary Angiography
  • Coronary Artery Disease / diagnostic imaging*
  • Coronary Artery Disease / physiopathology
  • Exercise Test*
  • Female
  • Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Perfusion Imaging*
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prospective Studies
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Singapore

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03217227