PICTORIAL ESSAY   

Il Giornale Italiano di Radiologia Medica 2018 Novembre-Dicembre;5(6):800-8

DOI: 10.23736/S2283-8376.18.00123-7

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Magnetic resonance imaging of cardiac masses

Giuseppe PERITORE ¹ ✉, Raffaello SUTERA ², Mario FINAZZO ³, Nicola GIUNTA ¹, Chiara TUDISCA ¹, Cristiana DURANTI ¹, Domenico MESSANA ¹, Giovanni D. AQUARO ⁴

¹ ARNAS Civico-G. Di Cristina-Benfratelli, Palermo, Italia; ² Casa di Cura Morana, Marsala, Trapani, Italia; ³ Studio di Radiologia Finazzo, Palermo, Italia; ⁴ Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio (FTGM), Pisa, Italia

Our look at cardiac tumors and cardiac masses in general has fundamentally changed with the advent of non-invasive cardiac imaging. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a multi-parametric technique of imaging considered nowadays the gold standard for non-invasive soft tissue characterization. CMR allows to evaluate the morphological characteristics of a mass, the location, size, infiltrative nature, presence of pleural/pericardial effusions. Furthermore, after injection of gadolinium-based contrast agents, it is possible to evaluate the vascularization of cardiac tumors in order to predict the degree of malignancy. In addition, CMR can help the choice of the technique for surgical resection by providing information about cardiac function and the possible hemodynamic impairment. The aim of our study is to evaluate the characteristics of the mass and to differentiate mass from pseudomass, as well as the CMR signal properties of cardiac tumor/masses and their behavior after injection of gadolinium-based contrast agents. In this pictorial essay, the MRI features of the most common cardiac tumors/masses are summarized and extensively illustrated, providing the reader a useful aid when encountering cardiac tumors/masses in daily clinical practice.

KEY WORDS: Neoplasms - Cardiac imaging techniques - Magnetic resonance imaging