Prognostic Value of Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Predicting Life‐Threatening Arrhythmias in Heart Failure Patients With Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillators: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Background The presence of late gadolinium enhanced (LGE), which may enable better evaluation of myocardial impairment, would help predict the occurrence of life-threatening arrhythmias and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients suffering from ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) patients and who underwent a process of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Purpose To evaluate the prognostic value of cardiac MR-LGE for ICM and NICM patients with ICD. Study type Systematic review and meta-analysis. Population A total of 33 studies of 3457 patients were included. Field strength 1. 5T and 3.0T, LGE. Assessment PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science were systematically searched for studies reporting LGE in ICM or NICM patients with ICD implantation with several kinds of endpoints: MACE, life-threatening arrhythmia, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality. Statistical tests A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to calculate odds ratios or standard mean differences (SMDs) for binary and continuous data. Results MR-LGE was positive in 1923 (55.6%) of ICM and NICM patients. LGE-present patients were more likely to have life-threatening arrhythmia (odds ratio [OR]: 5.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.8-6.8), MACE (OR: 5.2; 95% CI: 3.8-6.9), cardiovascular mortality (OR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.2-4.6), and all-cause mortality (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.3-3.4) compared with those without LGE. Moreover, ICM and NICM patients with LGE both had increased life-threatening arrhythmia (OR: 4.6; 95% CI: 2.7-8.0; OR: 5.2; 95% CI: 3.6-7.8, respectively) and MACE (OR: 4.7; 95% CI: 2.8-7.9; OR: 4.7; 95% CI: 2.7-8.1, respectively). Data conclusion The presence of MR-LGE may worsen the prognosis for adverse cardiovascular events in both ICM and NIMC patients who benefit more from ICDs. Level of evidence 3 Technical Efficacy Stage: 3 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:1422-1439.