Delayed hyperenhancement magnetic resonance imaging is useful in predicting functional recovery of nonischemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction

Background: About 25% of the patients with nonischemic left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction improve spontaneously. However, the predictors for functional improvement are not known. We hypothesized that myocardial fibrosis, assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, may predict the reversibility of nonischemic LV systolic dysfunction. Methods and Results: CMR was performed in 46 patients. Baseline and follow-up echocardiography was performed to assess the recovery of LV function. There were 24 patients with absence of delayed hyperenhancement (group 1) and 22 patients with delayed hyperenhancement (group 2). There were significant difference for the follow-up LV end-diastolic dimension (56.2 +/- 7.3 versus 62.6 +/- 11.9), LV end-systolic dimension (43.2 +/- 9.2 versus 52.8 +/- 12.6), and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) (46.8 +/- 12.4% versus 31.6 +/- 11.3%). Follow-up echocardiography of 19/24 (79.2%) patients in group 1 showed functional recovery, whereas only 2/22 (9.1%) patient in group 2 showed functional recovery. The absence of delayed hyperenhancement was associated with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 90.5%, 79.2%, 80.0%, and 90.9%, respectively. Conclusion: Absence of delayed hyperenhancement demonstrated excellent sensitivity and negative predictive value in predicting functional recovery of nonischemic LV systolic dysfunction.