Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33968616›Full record

ArticleCardiovascular diagnosis and therapy2021

Post-mortem cardiac magnetic resonance parameters in normal and diseased conditions.

Giuseppe Femia, Neil Langlois, Jim Raleigh, Sunthara Rajan Perumal, Christopher Semsarian, Rajesh Puranik

Open access · diamondAbstract read
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Article in Cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Giuseppe FemiaSydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Neil LangloisForensic Science South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Jim RaleighDepartment of Radiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Sunthara Rajan PerumalSouth Australia Health & Medical Research Institute, Preclinical, Imaging & Research Laboratories, Adelaide, Australia.
Christopher SemsarianSydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Rajesh PuranikSydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital · AUCentenary Institute · AUSouth Australian Health and Medical Research Institute · AUSouth Australia Pathology · AUUniversity of Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPost-mortem cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a non-invasive alternative to conventional autopsy. At present, diagnostic guidelines for cardiovascular conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have not been established. We correlated post-mortem CMR images to definite conventional autopsy findings and hypothesed that elevated T2-weighted signal intensity and RV to LV area ratios can identify myocardial infarction and pulmonary emboli respectively.

methodsFor this unblinded pilot sub-study, we selected cases from the original blinded study that compared post-mortem imaging to conventional autopsy in patients referred for coronial investigation between October 2014 to November 2016. Three groups of scans were selected based on the cause of death identified by conventional autopsy: non-cardiovascular causes of death with no structural cardiac abnormality i.e., control cases, acute/subacute myocardial infarction and pulmonary emboli. Left ventricular (LV) wall thickness, LV myocardial signal intensity and ventricular cavity areas were measured.

resultsFifty-six scans were selected [39 (69.6%) males]: 37 (66.1%) controls, eight (14.3%) acute/subacute myocardial infarction and eleven (19.6%) pulmonary emboli. The median age was 61 years [Interquartile range (IQR) 50-73] and the median time from death to imaging and autopsy was 2 days (IQR 2-3) and 3 days (IQR 3-4). The septal and lateral walls were thicker {15 mm [13-17] and 15 mm [14-18]} on post-mortem CMR than published ante-mortem measurements. Areas of acute/subacute myocardial infarction had significantly higher T2-weighted signal intensity (normalised to skeletal muscle) compared to normal myocardium in those who died from other causes {2.5 [2.3-3.0.]

conclusionsWe present potential post-mortem CMR parameters to identify important cardiovascular abnormalities that may be beneficial when conventional autopsy cannot be performed. In patients without cardiovascular disease, LV wall thickness was found to be unreliable in diagnosing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without histological and/or genetic testing. Elevated T2 signal intensity and RV to LV area ratios may be useful markers for acute/subacute myocardial infarction and pulmonary emboli. Larger studies will be necessary to define cut-offs.

Indexed as

conventional autopsyhypertrophic cardiomyopathymyocardial infarctionPost-mortem cardiac magnetic resonancepulmonary emboli

Identifiers

PMID33968616
PMCPMC8102245
OpenAlexW3155158265

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.