Background—: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study to investigate the yet unknown clinical significance of myocardial fibrosis in patients with non–ischemic cardiomyopathy without history of congestive heart failure (CHF). Methods and Results—: At 3 tertiary referral centers, 228 patients with non–ischemic cardiomyopathy without history of CHF were studied with cardiovascular magnetic resonance for late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) detection and quantification and prospectively followed up for a median of 23 months. The end point was a composite of cardiac death, onset of CHF, and aborted sudden cardiac death. LGE was detected in 61 (27%) patients. Thirty-one of 61 (51%) patients with LGE reached combined end point when compared with 18 of 167 (11%) patients without LGE (hazard ratio, 5.10 [2.78–9.36]; P <0.001). Patients with LGE had greater risk of developing CHF than patients without LGE (hazard ratio, 5.23 [2.61–10.50]; P <0.001) and higher rate of aborted sudden cardiac death (hazard ratio, 8.31 [1.66–41.55]; P =0.010). Multivariate analysis showed that LGE was associated with high likelihood of composite end point independent of other prognostic determinants, including age; duration of cardiomyopathy; and left ventricular volumes, mass, and ejection fraction (hazard ratio, 4.02 [2.08–7.76]; P <0.001). Improvement χ ² analysis disclosed that LGE addition to models, including clinical data alone or in combination with parameters of left ventricular remodeling and function, yielded an improvement in outcome prediction ( P <0.001). Addition of LGE to age and left ventricular ejection fraction improved risk stratification for composite end point (net reclassification improvement, 29.6%) and onset of CHF (net reclassification improvement, 25.4%; both P <0.001). Conclusions—: In patients with non–ischemic cardiomyopathy without history of CHF, myocardial fibrosis is a strong and independent predictor of outcome, providing incremental prognostic information and improvement in risk stratification beyond clinical data and degree of left ventricular dysfunction.

In nonischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM), replacement myocardial fibrosis as detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) at cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is associated with poor prognosis. We investigated the as-yet unexplored prognostic significance of interstitial fibrosis in NICM, using T1-mapping CMR. Eighty-nine NICM patients (63 men, age 59 ± 14 years) with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction 41 ± 13%) underwent comprehensive clinical and CMR evaluation, with extracellular volume fraction (ECV) estimation from pre and postcontrast T1 mapping. Fifteen healthy individuals (11 men, mean age 52 ± 11 years) were used as controls. The end-point was a composite of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure and appropriate defibrillator intervention. Myocardial ECV was higher in NICM patients (0.31 ± 0.05) than controls (0.25 ± 0.04, P < 0.01). In NICM patients, myocardial ECV correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (R = 0.13), LGE extent (R = 0.17), Doppler E/E' (R = 0.17) and ventricular tachycardias (R = 0.21) at 24-h ECG monitoring (P < 0.05 for all). During a median follow-up of 24 months (interquartile range 12-42 months), 12 events occurred and higher myocardium ECV was independently associated with the occurrence of the composite end-point (P < 0.01). In NICM patients, myocardial ECV was increased compared with normal individuals, likely reflecting extracellular matrix remodelling and collagen deposition, and resulted an independent prognostic predictor beyond all other conventional clinical, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic parameters.

Both the Assessing Diagnostic Value of Noninvasive FFRCT in Coronary Care (or ADVANCE) cohort and the clinical cohort of more than 10 000 patients showed relatively low rates for technically... Background Coronary artery fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from CT angiography (FFTCT) enables functional assessment of coronary stenosis. Prior clinical trials showed 13%–33% of coronary CT ...

(1) Background. Visceral adiposity index (VAI) has been recently identified as a new cardiometabolic risk marker reflecting abdominal fat distribution and dyslipidaemia. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the relationship between VAI, daily energy intake and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a cohort of obese Caucasian children and adolescents, aged 8 to 15 years. (2) Methods. Consecutive Italian children and adolescents with obesity, according to World Health Organization were enrolled. Anthropometric parameters and blood pressure were measured. Fasting blood samples have been analyzed for lipids, insulin and glucose levels. MetS was diagnosed using identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants (IDEFICS) or International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria according to age. Homeostatic model assessment index (HOMA-IR), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), A body shape index (ABSI) and VAI were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses with sex, age and each anthropometric parameter (body mass index (BMI) z-score, ABSI, waist-to-height ratio (WHR)) or VAI was performed to predict MetS. Receiver operation curve (ROC) analysis was used to define the optimal VAI cut-off to identify MetS. Multiple regression was performed to predict the BMI z-score and VAI from daily energy intake after adjusting for age and sex. (3) Results. Six hundred and thirty-seven (313 boys and 324 girls) children and adolescents with obesity with median age 11 (interquartile range 10–13) years were included in the analysis. MetS was diagnosed in 79 patients. VAI correlated with BMI, WHR, ABSI, HOMA-IR, QUICKI, systolic blood pressure, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and triglycerides-to-HDL ratio (p < 0.050). Optimal VAI cut-off (AUC) values to identify MetS were 1.775 (0.774), 1.685 (0.776) and 1.875 (0.797) in the whole population, boys and girls, respectively. Energy intake was positively associated with BMI z-score but no association was found with VAI. (4) Conclusion. VAI is a promising tool to identify MetS in children and adolescents with obesity and should be used in the management of abdominal obesity together with dietary assessment.