Late Gadolinium Enhanced MR Images of Acute Ablation Lesions Significantly Overestimates the Chronic Scar Volume

Acute enhancement of necrotic radio‐frequency ablation lesions in left atrium and pulmonary vein ostia in swine model with non‐contrast‐enhanced T1‐weighted MRI

“…15,[29][30][31] However, as imaging is repeated every few minutes, lesion appearance evolves with time as contrast agent enters the core regions, obscuring the borders and confounding estimation of lesion size using contrast enhancement. 15,31,32 LGE also enhances reversible tissue injury such as edema, [33][34][35] which limits its use for confirming permanent lesions at the time of ablation. In addition, dosage restrictions severely limit the number of times a CE protocol can be run during a procedure.…”

“…EGE depicts the necrotic lesion as hypo‐enhanced regions with accumulation of contrast agent around the edges . However, as imaging is repeated every few minutes, lesion appearance evolves with time as contrast agent enters the core regions, obscuring the borders and confounding estimation of lesion size using contrast enhancement . LGE also enhances reversible tissue injury such as edema, which limits its use for confirming permanent lesions at the time of ablation.…”