Myocardial triglyceride content at 3 T cardiovascular magnetic resonance and left ventricular systolic function: a cross-sectional study in patients hospitalized with acute heart failure

BACKGROUND: Increased myocardial triglyceride (TG) content has been recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, its relation with cardiac function in patients on recovery from acute heart failure (HF) remains unclear. In this cross-sectional study, we sought to investigate the association between myocardial TG content measured on magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) and left ventricular (LV) function assessed on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients who were hospitalized with HF. METHODS: A total of 50 patients who were discharged after hospitalization for acute HF and 21 age- and sex-matched controls were included in the study. Myocardial TG content and LV parameters (function and mass) were measured on a 3.0 T MR scanner. Fatty acid (FA) and unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) content was normalized against water (W) using the LC-Model algorithm. The patient population was dichotomized according to the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, <50 % or ≥ 50 %). RESULTS: H-MRS data were available for 48 patients and 21 controls. Of the 48 patients, 25 had a LVEF <50 % (mean, 31.2 %), whereas the remaining 23 had a normal LVEF (mean, 60.2 %). Myocardial UFA/W ratio was found to differ significantly in patients with low LVEF, normal LVEF, and controls (0.79 % vs. 0.21 % vs. 0.14 %, respectively, p = 0.02). The myocardial UFA/TG ratio was associated with LV mass (r = 0.39, p < 0.001) and modestly related to LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV; r = 0.24, p = 0.039). We also identified negative correlations of the myocardial FA/TG ratio with both LV mass (r = -0.39, p < 0.001) and LVEDV (r = -0.24, p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS: As compared with controls, patients who were discharged after hospitalization for acute HF had increased myocardial UFA content; furthermore, UFA was inversely related with LVEF, LV mass and, to a lesser extent, LVEDV. Our study may stimulate further research on the measure of myocardial UFA content by (1)H-MRS for outcome prediction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT02378402. Registered 27/02/2015 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12968-016-0228-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.