A mesh made of a conductive nanowire composite can be wrapped around the heart to improve hemodynamics in experimental heart failure in rodents.

Kim PK, et al. Korean J Radiol. 2017 Jan-Feb;18(1):113-131. https://doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2017.18.1.113

Myocardial extracellular volume fraction determined with dual-energy equilibrium contrast-enhanced cardiac CT showed good agreement, with a small bias and acceptable 95% limits of agreement when compared with cardiac MR imaging, as well as excellent interobserver agreement. PurposeTo evaluate the feasibility of equilibrium contrast material–enhanced dual-energy cardiac computed tomography (CT) to determine extracellular volume fraction (ECV) in nonischemic cardiomyopathy (CMP) compared with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.Materials and MethodsThis study was approved by the institutional review board; informed consent was obtained. Seven healthy subjects and 23 patients (six with hypertrophic CMP, nine with dilated CMP, four with amyloidosis, and four with sarcoidosis) (mean age ± standard deviation, 57.33 years ± 14.82; 19 male participants [63.3%]) were prospectively enrolled. Twelve minutes after contrast material injection (1.8 mL/kg at 3 mL/sec), dual-energy cardiac CT was performed. ECV was measured by two observers independently. Hematocrit levels were compared between healthy subjects and patients with the Mann-Whitney U test. In per-subject analysis, interobserver agreement for CT was assessed with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and intertest agreement...

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of two-phase 64-section cardiac computed tomographic (CT) angiography for detection of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombi and differentiation between thrombus and circulatory stasis in patients with stroke, with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the reference standard. This study was institutional review board approved, and all patients gave written informed consent. Fifty-five consecutive patients (36 men, 19 women; mean age, 61 years) who had recently experienced a stroke, had high-risk factors for thrombus formation, and underwent both two-phase 64-section cardiac CT angiography and TEE up to 5 days apart were examined. Agreement between CT and TEE for detection of thrombus was assessed with kappa statistics. For quantitative analysis, the LAA-ascending aorta attenuation ratio (LAA/AA, in Hounsfield units) was measured on early- and late-phase CT images. The significance of differences in CT attenuation measurements were assessed by using the Student t test. A total of 14 thrombi were detected in the 55 patients at TEE. With TEE as the reference standard, the overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of cardiac CT angiography for the detection of thrombus in the LAA were 100% (14 of 14 patients), 98% (40 of 41 patients), 93% (14 of 15 patients), and 100% (40 of 40 patients), respectively. Concordance between cardiac CT angiography and TEE for the detection of thrombus in the LAA was high (overall kappa = 0.953). Mean LAA/AA values were significantly different between thrombus (0.29 HU +/- 0.12 [standard deviation]) and circulatory stasis (0.85 HU +/- 0.12) on late-phase CT images (P < .001). Two-phase 64-section cardiac CT angiography is a noninvasive sensitive modality for detecting LAA thrombi and differentiating thrombus from circulatory stasis in stroke patients.