Abstract
BackgroundMyocardial deformation analyses using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) feature tracking (CMR-FT) have incremental value in the assessment of cardiac function beyond volumetric analyses. Since guidelines do not recommend specific imaging parameters, we aimed to define optimal spatial and temporal resolutions for CMR cine images to enable reliable post-processing.MethodsIntra- and inter-observer reproducibility was assessed in 12 healthy subjects and 9 heart failure (HF) patients. Cine images were acquired with different temporal (20, 30, 40 and 50 frames/cardiac cycle) and spatial resolutions (high in-plane 1.5 × 1.5 mm through-plane 5 mm, standard 1.8 × 1.8 x 8mm and low 3.0 × 3.0 x 10mm). CMR-FT comprised left ventricular (LV) global and segmental longitudinal/circumferential strain (GLS/GCS) and associated systolic strain rates (SR), and right ventricular (RV) GLS.ResultsTemporal but not spatial resolution did impact absolute strain and SR. Maximum absolute changes between lowest and highest temporal resolution were as follows: 1.8% and 0.3%/s for LV GLS and SR, 2.5% and 0.6%/s for GCS and SR as well as 1.4% for RV GLS. Changes of strain values occurred comparing 20 and 30 frames/cardiac cycle including LV and RV GLS and GCS (p < 0.001–0.046). In contrast, SR values (LV GLS/GCS SR) changed significantly comparing all successive temporal resolutions (p < 0.001–0.013). LV strain and SR reproducibility was not affected by either temporal or spatial resolution, whilst RV strain variability decreased with augmentation of temporal resolution.ConclusionTemporal but not spatial resolution significantly affects strain and SR in CMR-FT deformation analyses. Strain analyses require lower temporal resolution and 30 frames/cardiac cycle offer consistent strain assessments, whilst SR measurements gain from further increases in temporal resolution.
Highlights
Myocardial deformation assessments have proven incremental value over sole volumetric approaches in the evaluation of cardiac function and risk prediction irrespective of modality and methodology, both in echocardiography [1, 2] and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging [3,4,5]
CMR overcomes the limitations of anatomical plane restrictions as opposed to echocardiography [14, 25, 26], issues have been raised regarding through plane motion in 2 dimensional CMRFT post-processing and regarding its lower temporal resolution compared to speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) [26], especially since evidence from STE indicates a distinct impact of temporal resolution on strain assessment [27]
Cardiac function Temporal resolution Increasing temporal resolution was associated with increasing absolute strain and strain rates (SR) (Table 1 and Fig. 2)
Summary
Myocardial deformation assessments have proven incremental value over sole volumetric approaches in the evaluation of cardiac function and risk prediction irrespective of modality and methodology, both in echocardiography [1, 2] and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging [3,4,5]. CMR represents the reference standard for the evaluation of cardiac morphology and function [14] It allows the employment of various myocardial deformation assessments [15,16,17]. Despite the value of CMR-FT and increasing application, to date no recommendations exist for spatial and temporal resolutions in bSSFP cine images to allow for optimised post-processing. Myocardial deformation analyses using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) feature tracking (CMR-FT) have incremental value in the assessment of cardiac function beyond volumetric analyses. Since guidelines do not recommend specific imaging parameters, we aimed to define optimal spatial and temporal resolutions for CMR cine images to enable reliable post-processing
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