Assessment of Cardiomyopathy at Different CKD Stages using Free-breathing Simultaneous Myocardial T1, T2 and T1ρ Mapping: Initial Experience

Motivation: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) leads to significantly increased risk of cardiovascular death, highlighting the need for a non-contrast and non-invasive method to detect potential cardiomyopathy. Goal(s): To evaluate the performance of cardiac multi-parametric mapping in assessing cardiomyopathy in CKD patients. Approach: A recently proposed free-breathing multi-parametric mapping (FB-MultiMap) technique was employed to obtain myocardial T1, T2 and T1ρ maps of CKD patients. The parametric values were compared between healthy controls, stage 2, and stage 3-5 CKD patients. Results: Myocardial T1, T2 and T1ρ exhibit significant differences between early-stage and moderate-to-end-stage CKD patients, indicating their potential for assessing the progression of cardiomyopathy in CKD. Impact: FB-MultiMap may serve as an effective and easy-to-use tool for early diagnosis and monitoring of cardiomyopathy in CKD, potentially improving the outcome of CKD patients.