An investigation into potential gender-specific differences in myocardial triglyceride content assessed by 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy at 3Tesla. (June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Petritsch, Bernhard; Köstler, Herbert; Gassenmaier, Tobias; Kunz, Andreas S; Bley, Thorsten A; Horn, Michael
• Is Part Of: Journal of international medical research. Volume 44:Number 3(2016:Jun.)
• Page Start: 585
• Page End: 591
• Publication Date: 2016-06
• Subjects: Cardiac -- magnetic resonance imaging -- 1H-Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) -- myocardium -- triglycerides -- metabolism -- gender; Medicine -- Periodicals; Pharmacology -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1177/0300060515603884
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0300-0605

Abstract

Objective: Over the past decade, myocardial triglyceride content has become an accepted biomarker for chronic metabolic and cardiac disease. The purpose of this study was to use proton (hydrogen 1)-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) at 3Tesla (3 T) field strength to assess potential gender-related differences in myocardial triglyceride content in healthy individuals . Methods: Cardiac MR imaging was performed to enable accurate voxel placement and obtain functional and morphological information. Double triggered (i.e., ECG and respiratory motion gating) 1 H-MRS was used to quantify myocardial triglyceride levels for each gender. Two-sample t -test and Mann-Whitney U -test were used for statistical analyses. Results: In total, 40 healthy volunteers (22 male, 18 female; aged >18 years and age matched) were included in the study. Median myocardial triglyceride content was 0.28% (interquartile range [IQR] 0.17–0.42%) in male and 0.24% (IQR 0.14–0.45%) in female participants, and no statistically significant difference was observed between the genders. Furthermore, no gender-specific difference in ejection fraction was observed, although on average, male participants presented with a higher mean ± SD left ventricular mass (136.3 ± 25.2 g) than female participants (103.9 ± 16.1 g). Conclusions: The study showed that 1 H-MRS is a capable, noninvasive tool for acquisition of myocardial triglyceride metabolites. Myocardial triglyceride concentration was shown to be unrelated to gender in this group of healthy volunteers.