Abstract
ObjectiveOur aim was to investigate the technical feasibility of a novel motion compensation method for cardiac magntic resonance (MR) T1 and extracellular volume fraction (ECV) mapping.Materials and methodsNative and post-contrast T1 maps were obtained using modified look-locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) pulse sequences with acquisition scheme defined in seconds. A nonrigid, nonparametric, fast elastic registration method was applied to generate motion-corrected T1 maps and subsequently ECV maps. Qualitative rating was performed based on T1 fitting-error maps and overlay images. Local deformation vector fields were produced for quantitative assessment. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility were compared with and without motion compensation.ResultsEighty-two T1 and 39 ECV maps were obtained in 21 patients with diverse myocardial diseases. Approximately 60% demonstrated clear quality improvement after motion correction for T1 mapping, particularly for the poor-rating cases (23% before vs 2% after). Approximately 67% showed further improvement with co-registration in ECV mapping. Although T1 and ECV values were not clinically significantly different before and after motion compensation, there was improved intra- and inter-observer reproducibility after motion compensation.ConclusionsAutomated motion correction and co-registration improved the qualitative assessment and reproducibility of cardiac MR T1 and ECV measurements, allowing for more reliable ECV mapping.
Highlights
Materials and methodsMyocardial fibrosis is one of the histological hallmarks of left-ventricular decompensation [1]
Motion correction improved the quality in 59% of all maps, with a trend toward greater improvement in the post-contrast case compared with the native case (P = 0.07)
No maps deteriorated in quality after motion correction
Summary
Myocardial fibrosis is one of the histological hallmarks of left-ventricular decompensation [1]. Late gadolinium-enhanced imaging, a conventional cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) technique, offers accurate detection of focal regions of myocardial fibrosis. This form of fibrosis commonly occurs late in the disease process and is not believed to be reversible [2, 3]. Recent advances in myocardial T1 mapping allow quantification of more diffuse types of fibrosis, which are potentially reversible with targeted therapies [4]. In the absence of amyloid deposition and edema, ECV correlates with the amount of myocardial fibrosis on histology [6, 7]. Recent data have demonstrated an important prognostic association between ECV and adverse outcomes, independent of traditional predictors such as ejection fraction, age, and coronary artery disease [4, 8]
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