Does electron-beam CT accurately depict the morphologic characteristics and function of the right ventricle in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia?
Electron-beam CT provides a suitable noninvasive method for evaluating the morphologic characteristics and function of the right ventricle in patients with ARVD.
The authors evaluated four cases of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) with electron-beam computed tomography (CT). Except for magnetic resonance imaging, non-invasive imaging techniques such as two-dimensional echocardiography and radionuclide angiography cannot always depict the abnormal morphology of the right ventricle. Definite diagnosis of ARVD requires the use of invasive cardiac cineangiography. Proper identification of right ventricular involvement in ARVD with CT helps in the diagnosis. Volume-mode CT clearly depicted an enlarged right ventricle with a scalloped surface of the free wall, conspicuous trabeculations with low attenuation, and abundant epicardial adipose tissue, which are characteristics of ARVD. Cinemode CT revealed reduced right ventricle function and abnormal wall motion. The authors propose that millisecond-order, electron-beam CT is a suitable noninvasive examination for evaluating the morphologic characteristics of the right ventricle and its function in ARVD.
Hamada et al. (1993) studied this question.