MRI assessment of regional heart wall motion in the longitudinal axis sections of left ventricle by spatial modulation of magnetization.
BACKGROUND
The goal of the study is to evaluate the spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM) technique as a means of assessing cardiac wall motion of the left ventricle, which has been shown by clinical trials to be a better tool for depicting regional myocardial motion than the traditional noninvasive and invasive methods.


METHODS
Cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, using SPAMM, was performed for nine normal volunteers. The regional myocardial strains observed in the long axis views of left ventricle (LV) were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed in two different directions.


RESULTS
The results indicate that the myocardial strains observed in the lateral free wall (LW), posteriolateral free wall (PLW) and posterior free wall (PW) are significantly greater than those in the inter-ventricular septum (SP), anterior septum (AS) and anterior free wall (AW), respectively. It was also found that the greatest strains occurred in the apical halves of LW and in the basal halves of PLW and PW in each of the long axis views, respectively. In general, the circumferential strain was found to be greater in the basal halves than in the apical halves of the LV.


CONCLUSIONS
The SPAMM cardiac imaging of the long-axis section of LV is a useful tool for assessment of regional ventricular function and is invaluable for probing deeper into the intricacies of the heart wall motion in long-axis views.
Chai
J W
JW
Department of Radiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Chen
Y T
YT
Lee
S K
SK
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left