Right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain and strain rate quantification with cardiovascular magnetic resonance based tissue tracking

Abstract

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance based tissue tracking (CMR-TT) was reported to provide detailed insight into left ventricular mechanical features. However, inadequate knowledge of the right ventricle (RV) mechanical deformation has been acquired by this advanced technique so far. It was the aim of this study to establish reference values of RV free wall (RVFW) global, regional and segmental longitudinal peak strain and strain rate (LS and LSR), and to investigate the gender- and age-related difference as well as the base-to-apex gradient of RVFW-LS and LSR with CMR-TT. 150 healthy volunteers (75 males/females) were retrospectively and continuously recruited and subdivided into three age groups (G20–40, G41–60 and G61–80). RVFW global, regional (basal, middle-cavity and apical) and segmental LS (GLS, RLS, SLS) along with systolic and diastolic LSR were generated by post-hoc CMR-TT analysis of standard steady-state free precession long-axis four-chamber view cine images acquired at 1.5T field strength. The reference value of myocardial RVFW-GLS was − 24.9 ± 5.2%. We found that females showed more negative GLS than males except in the youngest group, and no age-related difference of GLS was observed in both gender groups. RLS and SLS presented with the same age-related tendency as GLS. The basal and middle-cavity LS were similar between each other and significantly larger than apical LS. RVFW-GLSR resulted as − 1.73 ± 0.58 s−1 and 1.69 ± 0.65 s−1 during systolic and diastolic phases, respectively. The diastolic GLSR of males tended to decline with the ageing and was significantly lower than that of females in G61–80 group. Regional and segmental LSR showed significant gender-related differences in certain basal and apical region/segments without any age-related effects. CMR-TT overcomes the difficulty in measuring RV global and segmental deformation. The establishment of the vendor-, gender- and segment-specific reference values of RVFW-LS and LSR is essential for the rapid and efficient utilization of CMR-TT modality in the clinical routine.

Quantitative Assessment of Left and Right Atrial Strains Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Based Tissue Tracking

“…In this study, we applied CMR-TT to quantify LA and RA strains. CMR-TT has been proven reproducible and reliable in assessing LV and RV myocardial deformation ( 12 , 15 ). Recently, its application to atrial strain quantification has been gradually increasing.…”

“…The biventricular ejection fraction (EF) was proven normal [left ventricular EF (LVEF) ≥55%, right ventricular EF (RVEF) ≥45%] by routine echocardiography. Subjects with contraindications to standard CMR scanning were excluded as described before ( 12 ). All participants were subdivided into three age groups (G 20−40 , G 41−60 , and G 61−80 ) with the same number of males and females in each group.…”

“…All data were acquired with a dedicated cardiac 32-channel phased-array receive coil. The detailed scanning parameters have been described before ( 12 ). Briefly, CMR images covering the whole heart were acquired with an electrocardiogram-gated breath-hold steady-state free precession sequence.…”

“…Similar to speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), CMR based tissue tracking (CMR-TT) is based on segmentation and tracking of myocardial tissue voxels throughout the cardiac cycle. It has been proven as a promising approach to assess left and right ventricular myocardial strains from routinely available steady-state free precession cine images ( 12 – 15 ). Due to the thin myocardial wall, insertion of appendage and vena cava, angle dependency and limitation of acoustic windows, the volumetric and mechanical analysis of atrial is challenging using STE ( 16 ).…”

Cardiovascular imaging 2020 in the international journal of cardiovascular imaging: the 10 most downloaded papers in the year 2020

“…“Right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain and strain rate quantification with cardiovascular magnetic resonance based tissue tracking” by Qu et al [ 2 ] was downloaded 1755 times. This paper established reference values of right ventricular free wall regional and segmental peak strain rates and investigated gender and age- related differences.…”