Acute anterior myocardial infarction seen on conventional iodine-contrast CT

The "cardiac neglect": a gentle reminder to radiologists interpreting contrast-enhanced abdominal MDCT

Myocardial infarction (MI) may be visible on contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scans of the abdomen. In the previous literature, potentially missed MI in abdominal MDCTs was not perceived as an issue in radiology. This retrospective single-center study assessed the frequency of detectable myocardial hypoperfusion in contrast-enhanced abdominal MDCTs. We identified 107 patients between 2006 and 2022 who had abdominal MDCTs on the same day or the day before a catheter-proven or clinically evident diagnosis of MI. After reviewing the digital patient records and applying the exclusion criteria, we included 38 patients, with 19 showing areas of myocardial hypoperfusion. All MDCT studies were non ECG-gated. The delay between the MDCT examination and MI diagnosis was shorter in studies with myocardial hypoperfusion (7.4 ± 6.5 hours and 13.8 ± 12.5 hours) but not statistically significant p = 0.054 . Only 2 of 19 (11%) of these pathologies had been noted in the written radiology reports. The most common cardinal symptom was epigastric pain (50%), followed by polytrauma (21%). STEMI was significantly more common in cases of myocardial hypoperfusion p = 0.009 . Overall, 16 of 38 (42%) patients died because of acute MI. Based on extrapolations using local MDCT rates, we estimate several thousand radiologically missed MI cases worldwide per year.

Clinical experience of whole-body computed tomography as the initial evaluation tool after extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Background

The routine application of whole-body CT after extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has not been extensively investigated. We aimed to evaluate the benefit of CT in this context.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed all OHCA patients who had received ECPR between January 2006 to May 2019. Electronic records were reviewed to filter out patients who had a whole-body CT as their first clinical evaluation after ECPR. CT findings and major hospital outcomes were evaluated.

Results

From January 2006 to May 2019, 700 patients had received ECPR in our institution. We identified 93 OHCA patients who received whole-body CT as the first clinical evaluation after ECPR. 22.6% of those had no acute findings detected on CT requiring immediate treatment. In the remaining 77.4%, CT had findings that might lead to alterations in clinical course. Most important findings were myocardial infarction (57.0%), hypoxic brain injury (29.0%), sternal/rib fractures (16.1%), aortic dissection (7.5%), pulmonary embolism (5.4%), and cardiac tamponade (5.4%). There were no significant differences in ICU/hospitalization days, time on ECMO support, survival and neurological outcomes between those with and without immediate CT. In our OHCA cohort, there were 27 patients with CT evidence of hypoxic brain injury, of whom 22.2% (n = 2) managed to wean from ECMO support, 14.8% (n = 4) survived to discharge, but only 3.7% (n = 1) survived with good neurological outcome. Hypoxic brain injury on CT has a 95% specificity in predicting poor neurological outcome, with a false positive rate of only 3.7%. Logistic regression suggested a potential correlation between CT findings of hypoxic brain injury and poor neurological outcome [Odds ratio (OR) = 12.53 (1.55 to 10.1), p = 0.02)].

Conclusions

Routine whole-body CT after ECPR in OHCA patients appears to have a limited role, as the majority is caused by ACS. However, it may be a useful tool when CPR-related injury or non-ACS causes of OHCA are suspected, as well as in cases where the cause of OHCA is unknown. On the contrary, routine brain CT may be a valuable tool in guiding anticoagulant therapy during ECMO and in aiding outcome prediction.