Reproducibility of regional- and global left-ventricular strain analyzes using tagging and feature tracking techniques - a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging study in healthy volunteers

Abstract

Background Techniques for the evaluation of regionaland global left-ventricular wall motion parameters based on strain analyzes are emerging in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. Some of these techniques, such as tagging, require dedicated CMR sequences at the time of the examination. Other approaches are based on post-processing of routine imaging studies such as feature-tracking. Common to all is the need for specialized software solutions. Objective of our study was the evaluation of a tagging and a feature-tracking approach with regard to reproducibility and robustness. We therefore examined a cohort of healthy volunteers under rest conditions and during pharmacological exercise.