ESC Congress in Madrid

The ESC Congress in Madrid is fast approaching – a highlight of the cardiovascular calendar. Alongside the release of new guidelines, the role of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has been gaining increasing recognition year after year.

Over the past two years, its central role in diagnosing various cardiomyopathies and in the evaluation of chronic coronary syndromes has been reinforced. This year, we are particularly looking forward to how CMR will be positioned in the guidelines for myocarditis, pericarditis, and valvular heart disease.

Until then, we are here to help you master the guideline-based use of CMR – whether through our comprehensive in-person courses or our online learning platform CMR Orbit, enabling flexible, self-paced learning with real-world cases – anytime, anywhere.

New publication: CMR as an essential tool in ATTR cardiomyopathy

A recent study by Patel et al. (European Heart Journal) demonstrates that cardiac MRI – particularly extracellular volume (ECV) mapping – is the pivotal tool for precise, quantitative monitoring of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) progression and treatment response.

In 189 patients (119 untreated, 70 treated with patisiran), untreated individuals showed significant ECV increases (+4.1 % at 1 year, +6.8 % at 2 years) with worsening biomarkers. In contrast, patisiran-treated patients remained stable (+0.2 % at 1 year, –0.2 % at 2 years), with 100 % maintaining stable ECV at 2 years.

Importantly, an ECV increase ≥5 % after 1 year independently predicted mortality (HR 2.02), even after adjusting for established risk markers.

These findings highlight that CMR is not merely a diagnostic tool – it delivers an essential, quantitative biomarker through ECV mapping, enabling objective assessment of both disease trajectory and therapy effect – a key advance in the personalized management of ATTR-CM.