MRI Report

[kally1617]

my mom's MRI Report says, "There is basal & mid epicardial enhancement interior wall, mid septal enhancement along RV endocardinal side, basal infero laternal segment enhancement & mid centero septal mid myocardial enhancement.
what does this mean? Pl. help

[kally1617]

Thank you so much...it helps me to understand her condition. Mom is 68 years old...what is her best options for treatment?

[dave1726]

Okay, the heart has layers. The inner most layer is the endocardium, then the myocardium, and  the epicardium, the most superficial layer (meaning the layer farthest from the inside). There is also the pericardium, which is the protective layer around the heart. Now, your Mom has basal and and mid-epicardial enhancement of the interior wall. This means that the inner wall (i.e. interior not lateral) of the ventricle in question has some thickening of the outer most layer of her heart. So, if you picture her heart, on the along the outer portion of the inside wall of her ventricle heart there is some thickening. That wall may be too thick because of hypertension or any other number of conditions that could cause cardiac fibrosis (scar tissue). Also, she has some thickening (“enahancement”) of the septum. The intraventricular septum is in between the LV and RV. It appears hers is too thick on the side that faces the RV, particularily in the outer layer. Now, basal infero-lateral segment enhancement means that the base (basal), lower (inferior), outside (lateral) wall of her heart is a little too thick. The mid-myocardial setpal enchancement is the middle layer of the septum being too thick. In short these are all descriptions of various parts of your Mom’s heart that appear to have some thickening and/or fibrosis. That’s what cardiac MRI’s are good at finding, fibro-fatty tissue, and thickening, as well as ischemic areas of the heart. If she is an older woman this might not be much cause for concern unless she has underlying heart disease. If she has heart disease, is symptomatic, or is not that old then it may require further analysis with your doctor. I am assuming she is at least symptomatic or has some kind of history if she has already arrived at the cardiac MRI stage. If she has had an MI (myocardial infarction, or “heart attack”) in the past, especially recently this may be evidence of the resididual damage. If she has undergone invasive heart procedures or testing before then that too may have caused some of this. I hope all goes well for your Mom.