LAUSR

BACKGROUND We aimed to assess the prevalence of myocardial delayed enhancement (MDE) in patients with suspected obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), and to investigate factors related to the presence or absence of MDE. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 191 consecutive patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) with MDE imaging for clinical suspicion of CAD from December 2014 to December 2016. The presence of MDE on iodine-density images using dual-energy CT was assessed by two independent readers. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to determine factors associated with the presence of MDE. RESULTS MDE was detected in 58 (30%) patients. Male gender, hypertension, prior heart failure (HF) hospitalization, and CCTA-detected CAD were independent factors related to the presence of MDE. When CCTA-detected CAD was excluded to narrow down the analysis to factors obtainable before CCTA, interventricular septum thickness (IVST) ≥12 mm was added as another independent factor. The combination of the following four factors: female gender, no history of hypertension, no history of prior HF hospitalization, and IVST < 12 mm demonstrated high specificity (98.3%) and positive predictive value (96.2%) for predicting the absence of MDE. CONCLUSIONS Male gender, hypertension, prior HF hospitalization, and CAD were independently associated with the presence of MDE in patients with suspected CAD. The combination of female gender, no history of hypertension, no history of prior HF hospitalization, and IVST < 12 mm is likely to be a helpful predictor in discriminating patients without MDE before CCTA.