Myocardial extracellular volume assessment at CT in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with regards to pulmonary embolism

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2023.110809Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Pulmonary embolism represents a common complication among patients with novel coronavirus disease.

  • The overload caused by pulmonary embolism may have repercussions on the myocardium.

  • Extracellular volume assessed at CT could reflect myocardial burden from pulmonary embolism.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate myocardial status through the assessment of extracellular volume (ECV) calculated at computed tomography (CT) in patients hospitalized for novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), with regards to the presence of pulmonary embolism (PE) as a risk factor for cardiac dysfunction.

Method

Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who underwent contrast-enhanced CT at our institution were retrospectively included in this study and grouped with regards to the presence of PE. Unenhanced and portal venous phase scans were used to calculate ECV by placing regions of interest in the myocardial septum and left ventricular blood pool. ECV values were compared between patients with and without PE, and correlations between ECV values and clinical or technical variables were subsequently appraised.

Results

Ninety-four patients were included, 63/94 of whom males (67%), with a median age of 70 (IQR 56–76 years); 28/94 (30%) patients presented with PE. Patients with PE had a higher myocardial ECV than those without (33.5%, IQR 29.4–37.5% versus 29.8%, IQR 25.1–34.0%; p = 0.010). There were no correlations between ECV and patients’ age (p = 0.870) or sex (p = 0.122), unenhanced scan voltage (p = 0.822), portal phase scan voltage (p = 0.631), overall radiation dose (p = 0.569), portal phase scan timing (p = 0.460), and contrast agent dose (p = 0.563).

Conclusions

CT-derived ECV could help identify COVID-19 patients at higher risk of cardiac dysfunction, especially when related to PE, to potentially plan a dedicated, patient-tailored clinical approach.

Keywords

Tomography, X-Ray Computed
COVID-19
Pulmonary Embolism
Myocardium
Extracellular volume

Abbreviations

COVID-19
Novel coronavirus disease
CT
Computed tomography
ECV
Extracellular volume
IQR
Interquartile range
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging
PE
Pulmonary embolism
ROI
Region of interest

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