Abstract
BackgroundTo evaluate the inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility of cardiac cine and scar imaging in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) system.MethodsThirty-three adult rats (Sprague–Dawley) were imaged 24 hours after surgical occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery using a 3.0 Tesla clinical MR scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands) equipped with a dedicated 70 mm solenoid receive-only coil. Left-ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, ejection fraction and amount of myocardial scar tissue were measured. Intra-and inter-observer reproducibility was assessed in all animals. In addition, repeat MR exams were performed in 6 randomly chosen rats within 24 hours to assess inter-study reproducibility.ResultsThe MR imaging protocol was successfully completed in 32 (97%) animals. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated high intra-reader reproducibility (mean bias%: LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), -1.7%; LV end-systolic volume (LVESV), -2.2%; LV ejection fraction (LVEF), 1.0%; LV mass, -2.7%; and scar mass, -1.2%) and high inter-reader reproducibility (mean bias%: LVEDV, 3.3%; LVESV, 6.2%; LVEF, -4.8%; LV mass, -1.9%; and scar mass, -1.8%). In addition, a high inter-study reproducibility was found (mean bias%: LVEDV, 0.1%; LVESV, -1.8%; LVEF, 1.0%; LV mass, -4.6%; and scar mass, -6.2%).ConclusionsCardiac MR imaging of rats yielded highly reproducible measurements of cardiac volumes/function and myocardial infarct size on a clinical 3.0 Tesla MR scanner system. Consequently, more widely available high field clinical MR scanners can be employed for small animal imaging of the heart e.g. when aiming at serial assessments during therapeutic intervention studies.
Highlights
To evaluate the inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility of cardiac cine and scar imaging in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) system
Heart rate ranged from 270 to 310 beats per minute, one cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) examination suffered from ECG-related triggering problems and could not be finalized
All 32 completed CMR examinations were of diagnostic image quality and constituted the final study population for analysis
Summary
To evaluate the inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility of cardiac cine and scar imaging in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) system. The accurate and reproducible assessment of cardiac function by measurement of leftventricular (LV) volumes, ejection fraction, and the amount of myocardial scar tissue is fundamental for evaluating heart diseases in cardiovascular research. A great advantage of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is the inherently high soft tissue contrast, and the possibility to image protocols are mandatory for small animal examinations either; in particular the exact determination of LV volumes/mass and myocardial infarct size plays a pivotal role in therapeutic intervention studies [13]. In order to facilitate accurate and reproducible cardiac small animal imaging on commonly available clinical MR scanners, the present study determined inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility for the evaluation of LV volumes, mass and myocardial scar size in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla MR system
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