Functional and structural reverse myocardial remodeling following transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a prospective cardiovascular magnetic resonance study

Abstract Background Since cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging allows comprehensive quantification of both myocardial function and structure we aimed to assess myocardial remodeling processes in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods CMR imaging was performed in 40 patients with severe AS before and 1 year after TAVR. Image analyses comprised assessments of myocardial volumes, CMR-feature-tracking based atrial and ventricular strain, myocardial T1 mapping, extracellular volume fraction-based calculation of left ventricular (LV) cellular and matrix volumes, as well as ischemic and non-ischemic late gadolinium enhancement analyses. Moreover, biomarkers including NT-proBNP as well as functional and clinical status were documented. Results Myocardial function improved 1 year after TAVR: LV ejection fraction (57.9 ± 16.9% to 65.4 ± 14.5%, p = 0.002); LV global longitudinal (− 21.4 ± 8.0% to -25.0 ± 6.4%, p