Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (Apr 2020)

Comparison of MRI and VQ-SPECT as a Screening Test for Patients With Suspected CTEPH: CHANGE-MRI Study Design and Rationale

  • Florian Lasch,
  • Annika Karch,
  • Armin Koch,
  • Thorsten Derlin,
  • Andreas Voskrebenzev,
  • Tawfik Moher Alsady,
  • Marius M. Hoeper,
  • Marius M. Hoeper,
  • Henning Gall,
  • Henning Gall,
  • Fritz Roller,
  • Fritz Roller,
  • Sebastian Harth,
  • Sebastian Harth,
  • Dagmar Steiner,
  • Gabriele Krombach,
  • Gabriele Krombach,
  • Hossein Ardeschir Ghofrani,
  • Hossein Ardeschir Ghofrani,
  • Fabian Rengier,
  • Fabian Rengier,
  • Claus Peter Heußel,
  • Claus Peter Heußel,
  • Claus Peter Heußel,
  • Ekkehard Grünig,
  • Ekkehard Grünig,
  • Dietrich Beitzke,
  • Marcus Hacker,
  • Irene M. Lang,
  • Jürgen Behr,
  • Jürgen Behr,
  • Peter Bartenstein,
  • Julien Dinkel,
  • Julien Dinkel,
  • Kai-Helge Schmidt,
  • Karl-Friedrich Kreitner,
  • Thomas Frauenfelder,
  • Silvia Ulrich,
  • Okka W. Hamer,
  • Michael Pfeifer,
  • Christopher S. Johns,
  • David G. Kiely,
  • Andrew James Swift,
  • Jim Wild,
  • Jens Vogel-Claussen,
  • Jens Vogel-Claussen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2020.00051
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7

Abstract

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The diagnostic strategy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is composed of two components required for a diagnosis of CTEPH: the presence of chronic pulmonary embolism and an elevated pulmonary artery pressure. The current guidelines require that ventilation–perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (VQ-SPECT) is used for the first step diagnosis of chronic pulmonary embolism. However, VQ-SPECT exposes patients to ionizing radiation in a radiation sensitive population. The prospective, multicenter, comparative phase III diagnostic trial CTEPH diagnosis Europe - MRI (CHANGE-MRI, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02791282) aims to demonstrate whether functional lung MRI can serve as an equal rights alternative to VQ-SPECT in a diagnostic strategy for patients with suspected CTEPH. Positive findings are verified with catheter pulmonary angiography or computed tomography pulmonary angiography (gold standard). For comparing the imaging methods, a co-primary endpoint is used. (i) the proportion of patients with positive MRI in the group of patients who have a positive SPECT and gold standard diagnosis for chronic pulmonary embolism and (ii) the proportion of patients with positive MRI in the group of patients with negative SPECT and gold standard. The CHANGE-MRI trial will also investigate the performance of functional lung MRI without i.v. contrast agent as an index test and identify cardiac, hemodynamic, and pulmonary MRI-derived parameters to estimate pulmonary artery pressures and predict 6–12 month survival. Ultimately, this study will provide the necessary evidence for the discussion about changes in the recommendations on the diagnostic approach to CTEPH.

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