Automated extracellular volume fraction measurement for diagnosis and prognostication in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 22;20(1):e0317741. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317741. eCollection 2025.

Abstract

Aims: T1 mapping on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is useful for diagnosis and prognostication in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA). We conducted this study to evaluate the performance of T1 mapping parameters, derived from artificial intelligence (AI)-automated segmentation, for detection of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and their prognostic values in patients with AL-CA.

Methods and results: A total of 300 consecutive patients who underwent CMR for differential diagnosis of LVH were analyzed. CA was confirmed in 50 patients (39 with AL-CA and 11 with transthyretin amyloidosis), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 198, hypertensive heart disease in 47, and Fabry disease in 5. A semi-automated deep learning algorithm (Myomics-Q) was used for the analysis of the CMR images. The optimal cutoff extracellular volume fraction (ECV) for the differentiation of CA from other etiologies was 33.6% (diagnostic accuracy 85.6%). The automated ECV measurement showed a significant prognostic value for a composite of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization in patients with AL-CA (revised Mayo stage III or IV) (adjusted hazard ratio 4.247 for ECV ≥40%, 95% confidence interval 1.215-14.851, p-value = 0.024). Incorporation of automated ECV measurement into the revised Mayo staging system resulted in better risk stratification (integrated discrimination index 27.9%, p = 0.013; categorical net reclassification index 13.8%, p = 0.007).

Conclusions: T1 mapping on CMR imaging, derived from AI-automated segmentation, not only allows for improved diagnosis of CA from other etiologies of LVH, but also provides significant prognostic value in patients with AL-CA.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cardiomyopathies / diagnosis
  • Cardiomyopathies / diagnostic imaging
  • Cardiomyopathies / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / diagnosis
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / diagnostic imaging
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / pathology
  • Immunoglobulin Light-chain Amyloidosis* / diagnosis
  • Immunoglobulin Light-chain Amyloidosis* / diagnostic imaging
  • Immunoglobulin Light-chain Amyloidosis* / pathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prognosis