Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) carry a high cardiovascular risk. In this patient group, cardiac structure and function are frequently abnormal and 74% of patients with CKD stage 5 have left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) at the initiation of renal replacement therapy. Cardiac changes, such as LVH and impaired left ventricular systolic function, have been associated with an unfavourable prognosis. Despite the prevalence of underlying cardiac abnormalities, symptoms may not manifest in many patients. Fortunately, a range of available and emerging cardiac imaging tools may assist with diagnosing and stratifying the risk and severity of heart disease in patients with CKD. Moreover, many of these techniques provide a better understanding of the pathophysiology of cardiac abnormalities in patients with renal disease. Knowledge of the currently available cardiac imaging modalities might help nephrologists to choose the most appropriate investigative tool based on individual patient circumstances. This Review describes established and emerging cardiac imaging modalities in this context, and compares their use in CKD patients with their use in the general population.

IEFs are common, requiring further investigation in a substantial minority. The incidence of highly significant findings in this study was low (∼1%), and similar to the reported incidence in the computed tomography literature. No significant difference was found between the reporting rates of IEFs between different specialties.

BackgroundImproved outcomes for normoglycemic patients suffering acute myocardial infarction (AMI) over the last decade have not been matched by similar improvements in mortality for diabetic patients despite similar levels of baseline risk and appropriate medical therapy. Two of the major determinants of poor outcome following AMI are infarct size and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction.MethodsNinety-three patients with first AMI were studied. 22 patients had diabetes mellitus (DM) based on prior history or admission blood glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l. 13 patients had dysglycemia (admission blood glucose ≥7.8 mmol/l but <11.1 mmol/l) and 58 patients had normoglycemia (admission blood glucose <7.8 mmol/l). Patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging at index presentation and median follow-up of 11 months. Cine imaging assessed LV function and late gadolinium contrast-enhanced imaging was used to quantify infarct size. Clinical outcome data were collected at 18 months median follow-up.ResultsPatients with dysglycemia and DM had larger infarct sizes by CMR than normoglycemic patients; at baseline percentage LV scar (mean (SD)) was 23.0% (10.9), 25.6% (12.9) and 15.8% (10.3) respectively (p = 0.001), and at 11 months percentage LV scar was 17.6% (8.9), 19.1% (9.6) and 12.4% (7.8) (p = 0.017). Patients with dysglycemia and DM also had lower event-free survival at 18 months (p = 0.005).ConclusionsPatients with dysglycemia or diabetes mellitus sustain larger infarct sizes than normoglycemic patients, as determined by CMR. This may, in part, account for their adverse prognosis following AMI.

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Abnormal Global longitudinal strain (GLS) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) are established poor prognostic risk factors in haemodialysis patients. Tissue motion annular displacement of mitral valve annulus (TMAD), determined by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), can be performed rapidly and is an indicator of systolic dysfunction, but has been less well explored. This study aims to compare TMAD with GLS and LVEF and its association with outcomes in haemodialysis patients. 198 haemodialysis patients (median age 64.2 years, 69 % men) had 2D echocardiography, with STE determined GLS and TMAD. Bland-Altman analysis and linear regression assessed relationship between GLS, LVEF and TMAD. Cox regression analysis investigated association of TMAD with mortality and cardiac events. TMAD had low inter- and intra-observer variability with small biases and narrow limits of agreement (LOA) (bias of -0.01 ± 1.32 (95 % LOA was -2.60 to 2.58) and -0.07 ± 1.27 (95 % LOA -2.55 to 2.41) respectively). There was a moderate negative correlation between GLS and LVEF (r = -0.383, p < 0.001) and a weak positive correlation between TMAD and LVEF (r = 0.248, p < 0.001). There was strong negative correlation of TMAD with GLS (r = -0.614, p < 0.001). In a multivariable Cox regression analysis, TMAD was not associated with mortality (HR 1.04, 95 % CI 0.91-1.19), cardiac death (HR 1.03, 95 % CI 0.80-1.32) or cardiac events (HR 0.91, 95 % CI 0.80-1.02). TMAD is a quick and reproducible alternative to GLS which may be very useful in cardiovascular risk assessment, but does not have the same prognostic value in HD patients as GLS.

Background: Cardiovascular mortality is high in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Arterial stiffness and global longitudinal strain (GLS) are important non-atheromatous cardiovascular risk predictors. No study has encompassed both parameters in a combined model for prediction of outcomes in HD patients. This is important because left ventricular (LV) dysfunction can result from fibrotic remodelling secondary to increased arterial stiffness. Methods: Two hundred and nineteen HD patients had pulse wave velocity (PWV) and echocardiography (including GLS) assessments. Patients were followed-up until death, transplantation or November 16, 2015, whichever happened first. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine factors associated with PWV and GLS. A multivariable Cox regression model investigated factors associated with all-cause, cardiac death and events. Results: One hundred and ninety eight HD patients had full datasets (median age 64.2, 68.7% males) with a mean LV ejection fraction (LVEF) of 61.7 ± 10.1% and GLS -13.5 ± 3.3%; 51% had LV hypertrophy. Forty eight deaths (15 cardiac) and 44 major cardiac events occurred during a median follow-up of 27.6 (25th-75th percentile, 17.3-32.7) months. In separate survival models, PWV and GLS were independently associated with all-cause mortality; however, in a combined model, LV mass indexed to height^2.7 (LVMI/HT^2.7; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.04) and PWV (adjusted HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03-1.47) were significant. PWV was neither associated with cardiac death nor associated with related cardiac events. However, GLS was associated with cardiac death (adjusted HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.00-1.54) and cardiac events (adjusted HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.03-1.25). Conclusions: PWV and LVMI/HT^2.7 were superior to GLS in prediction of all-cause mortality. However, GLS was associated with cardiac death and events even when accounting for LVEF and LVMI/HT^2.7.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-related pulmonary hypertension is a relatively rare disease that can affect HIV sufferers. This is almost always associated with a poor outcome and death. An 18 month-old girl, probably the youngest on record, was diagnosed to have pulmonary hypertension (PHT) and retrospectively found to have HIV infection. Sildenafil was used to control her PHT and she remains alive even after 2 years.

Aim: To compare three-dimensional (3D) k-t sensitivity encoded (k-t SENSE) cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), before and after contrast administration, against standard 2D imaging for the assessment of left ventricular volumes and mass.Method: Twenty-six subjects (14 volunteers, 12 patients) underwent multiple breathhold 2D balanced turbo-field echo cine CMR in addition to k-t SENSE accelerated 3D imaging (acceleration factor 5; 5× k-t SENSE), performed before and after administration of a high-relaxivity gadoliniumbased contrast agent (Gadobutrolum). k-t acceleration factors of 7 and 10 were also assessed in six volunteers. Left ventricular end diastolic volume (EDV), end systolic volume (ESV), mass, and ejection fraction (EF) were calculated for each method.Results: There was at least moderate agreement between the EDV, ESV, mass and EF calculated by 2D and 3D 5× k-t SENSE methods before contrast (concordance coefficients 0.92, 0.95, 0.97, 0.92, respectively). Agreement improved following contrast (concordance coefficients 0.97, 0.99, 0.98, 0.93, respectively). The 3D method underestimated all parameters compared to 2D (mean bias pre-contrast 6.1 ml, 0.6 ml, 3.5 g, 2.0% respectively). 3D image quality scores were significantly poorer than 2D, showing a non-significant trend to improvement following contrast administration. Parameters derived with k-t acceleration factors of 7 and 10 showed poorer agreement with 2D values. Conclusion:Left ventricular volumes and mass are reliably assessed using 3D 5× k-t SENSE accelerated CMR. Contrast administration further improves agreement between 5× k-t SENSE and 2D-derived measurements. k-t acceleration factors greater than 5, though feasible, produce poorer agreement with 2D values.