DENSE: Displacement Encoding with Stimulated Echoes in Cardiac Functional MRI

PurposeTo assess myocardial strain using cine displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) using 1.5T and 3.0T MRI in healthy adults.Materials and MethodsHealthy adults without any history of cardiovascular disease underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.5T and 3.0T within 2 days. The MRI protocol included balanced steady‐state free‐precession (b‐SSFP), 2D cine‐echo planar imaging (EPI)‐DENSE, and late gadolinium enhancement in subjects >45 years. Acquisitions were divided into six segments; global and segmental peak longitudinal and circumferential strain were derived and analyzed by field strength, age, and gender.ResultsIn all, 89 volunteers (mean age 44.8 ± 18.0 years, range: 18–87 years) underwent MRI at 1.5T, and 88 of these subjects underwent MRI at 3.0T (1.4 ± 1.4 days between the scans). Compared with 3.0T, the magnitudes of global circumferential (–19.5 ± 2.6% vs. –18.47 ± 2.6%; P = 0.001) and longitudinal (–12.47 ± 3.2% vs. –10.53 ± 3.1%; P = 0.004) strain were greater at 1.5T. At 1.5T, longitudinal strain was greater in females than in males: –10.17 ± 3.4% vs. –13.67 ± 2.4%; P = 0.001. Similar observations occurred for circumferential strain at 1.5T (–18.72 ± 2.2% vs. –20.10 ± 2.7%; P = 0.014) and at 3.0T (–17.92 ± 1.8% vs. –19.1 ± 3.1%; P = 0.047). At 1.5T, longitudinal and circumferential strain were not associated with age after accounting for sex (longitudinal strain P = 0.178, circumferential strain P = 0.733). At 3.0T, longitudinal and circumferential strain were associated with age (P < 0.05). Longitudinal strain values were greater in the apico‐septal, basal‐lateral, and mid‐lateral segments and circumferential strain in the inferior, infero‐lateral, and antero‐lateral LV segments.ConclusionMyocardial strain parameters as revealed by cine‐DENSE at different MRI field strengths were associated with myocardial region, age, and sex. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:1197–1205.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Myocardial strain in healthy adults across a broad age range as revealed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 and 3.0T: Associations of myocardial strain with myocardial region, age, and sex

Mangion

Clerfond

McComb

et al. 2016

“…In addition to techniques for assessing qualitative and quantitative global wall motion with cine imaging, such as balanced SSFP, methods for assessing regional and global heart wall motion have been introduced (13,14). Established methods for quantitative analysis of myocardial wall motion include tagging (15), phase-contrast velocity mapping (tissue phase mapping (TPM)) (16), and displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) (17). These methods can be used to extract parameters such as strain or radial and tangential (circumferential) velocity components (18,19).…”

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confidence: 99%

Detailed analysis of myocardial motion in volunteers and patients using high‐temporal‐resolution MR tissue phase mapping

Jung

Föll

Böttler

et al. 2006

115

Purpose: To detect and investigate details in left ventricular (LV) motion patterns with a temporal resolution comparable to that of echocardiography. Material and Methods:To assess global and regional myocardial motion in high temporal detail, respiratory-gated MR phase-contrast measurements with three-directional velocity encoding (venc) were performed in 12 healthy volunteers and two patients with LV hypertrophy in basal, midventricular, and apical locations of the LV with a temporal resolution of 13.8 msec. Results:The volunteer data revealed details in LV motion patterns that were known only from echocardiography. For all volunteers, characteristic myocardial motion patterns, such as triphasic global diastolic expansion, could be detected with high accuracy. One volunteer underwent an additional echocardiographic measurement in order to corroborate the complex motion features as measured by MRI. Patient examinations revealed substantial changes in diastolic function compared to motion patterns in healthy volunteers. Conclusion:The proposed high-temporal-resolution velocitymapping technique provides previously undetectable information on LV performance, and is highly promising for the detection of local and global motion abnormalities in patients with disturbed LV performance, such as diastolic dysfunction.

“…Displacement ENcoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) is a method for quantification of myocardial displacement [1]. This quantification is useful as a direct measure of the motion as well as enabling computation of myocardial strain, both valuable in the assessment of myocardial function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In vivo SNR in DENSE MRI; temporal and regional effects of field strength, receiver coil sensitivity and flip angle strategies

Sigfridsson¹,

Haraldsson²,

Ebbers³

et al. 2011

In-vivo SNR in DENSE MRI: temporal and regional effects of field strength, receiver coil sensitivity, and flip angle strategies, 2011, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, (29), 2, 202-208 Materials and methods: Ten healthy volunteers were imaged in a 1.5 T and a 3 T MRI system, using standard 5 or 6 channel cardiac coils as well as 32 channel coils, with four different excitation patterns. Variation of spatial coil sensitivity was assessed by regional SNR analysis.Results: SNR ranging from 2.8 to 30.5 was found depending on the combination of excitation patterns, coil sensitivity and field strength. The SNR at 3T was 53±26% higher than at 1.5T (p<0.001), whereas spatial differences of 59±26% were found in the ventricle (p<0.001). 32 channel coils provided 52±29% higher SNR compared to standard 5 or 6 channel coils (p<0.001). A fixed flip angle strategy provided an excess of 50% higher SNR in half of the imaged cardiac cycle compared to a sweeping flip angle strategy, and a single phase acquisition provided a six-fold increase of SNR compared to a cine acquisition.Conclusion: The effect of field strength and receiver coil sensitivity influences the SNR with the same order of magnitude, whereas flip angle strategy can have a larger effect on SNR. Thus, careful choice of imaging hardware in combination with adaptation of the acquisition protocol is crucial in order to realize sufficient SNR in DENSE MRI.