Prevalence and morphology of myocardial crypts in normal and hypertrophied myocardium by computed tomography

• Published in: The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging 2019-07, Vol.35 (7), p.1347-1355
• Main Authors: Arow, Ziad, Nassar, Mithal, Monakier, Daniel, Assali, Abid, Vaknin-Assa, Hana, Kornowski, Ran, Hamdan, Ashraf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aortic valve; Aortic Valve Stenosis - diagnostic imaging; Aortic Valve Stenosis - epidemiology; Aortic Valve Stenosis - pathology; Cardiac Imaging; Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques; Cardiology; Cardiomyopathy; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - diagnostic imaging; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - epidemiology; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - pathology; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular system; Computation; Computed tomography; Computed Tomography Angiography - methods; Coronary Angiography - methods; Crypts; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Disease control; Electrocardiography; Female; Heart; Heart Ventricles - diagnostic imaging; Heart Ventricles - pathology; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnostic imaging; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - pathology; Imaging; Israel - epidemiology; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Morphology; Multidetector Computed Tomography - methods; Myocardium; Myocardium - pathology; Original Paper; Patients; Predictive Value of Tests; Prevalence; Radiology; Retrospective Studies; Stenosis; Tomography; Ventricle
• ISSN: 1569-5794; 1573-0743; 1875-8312
• DOI: 10.1007/s10554-019-01543-7

Myocardial crypts can be recognized in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) using magnetic resonance imaging, but similar studies using computed tomography (CT) are sparse. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and morphology of myocardial crypts in patients with HCM, arterial hypertension, and aortic valve stenosis using contrast-enhanced CT. We also investigated the added value of a finding of myocardial crypts on CT scan to the diagnosis of HCM. The study cohort included 73 patients with HCM, 100 patients with arterial hypertension, 120 patients with aortic valve stenosis, and 100 subjects without cardiovascular disease (normal control group). All underwent evaluation for the presence and dimensions of myocardial crypts using 256-slice CT. Crypts were identified in 18 patients (24.7%) with HCM, 7 patients (7%) with hypertension, 8 patients (6.7%) with aortic valve stenosis, and 4 (4%) normal subjects ( P