Background: Clinical utility of myocardial delayed enhancement CT has not been reported in children and young adults.
Objective: To describe initial experience of myocardial delayed enhancement CT regarding image quality, radiation dose and identification of myocardial lesions in children and young adults.
Materials and methods: Between August 2013 and November 2016, 29 consecutive children and young adults (median age 16 months) with suspected coronary artery or myocardial abnormality underwent arterial- and delayed-phase cardiac CT at our institution. We measured CT densities in normal myocardium, left ventricular cavity, and arterial and delayed hypo-enhancing and delayed hyperenhancing myocardial lesions. We then compared the extent of delayed hyperenhancing lesions with delayed-enhancement MRI or thallium single-photon emission CT.
Results: Normal myocardium and left ventricular cavity showed significantly higher CT numbers on arterial-phase CT than on delayed-phase CT (t-test, P<0.0001). Contrast-to-noise ratios of the arterial and delayed hypo-enhancing and delayed hyperenhancing lesions on CT were 26.7, 17.6 and 18.7, respectively. Delayed-phase CT findings were equivalent to those of delayed-enhancement MRI in all cases (7/7) and to those of thallium single-photon emission CT in 70% (7/10).
Conclusion: Myocardial delayed-enhancement CT can be added to evaluate myocardial lesions in select children and young adults with suspected coronary artery or myocardial abnormality.
Keywords: Children; Computed tomography; Heart; Magnetic resonance imaging; Myocardial delayed enhancement; Thallium single-photon emission computed tomography.