Optimization of cardiac cine in the rat on a clinical 1.5-T MR system.
OBJECTIVE
The overall goal was to study cardiovascular function in small animals using a clinical 1.5-T MR scanner optimizing a fast gradient-echo cine sequence to obtain high spatial and temporal resolution.


METHODS
Normal rat hearts (n = 9) were imaged using a 1.5-T MR scanner with a spiral fast gradient-echo (fast field echo for Philips scanners) sequence, three Cartesian fast gradient-echo (turbo field echo for Philips scanners) sequences with different in-plane resolution, and with and without flow compensation and half-Fourier acquisition. The hearts of four rats were then excised and left-ventricle mass was weighed. Inter- and intra-observer variability analysis was performed for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements.


RESULTS
Half-Fourier acquisition with flow compensation gave the best sequence in terms of image quality, spatial as well as temporal resolution, and suppression of flow artifact. Ejection fraction was 71 +/- 4% with less than 5% inter- and intra-observer variability. A good correlation was found between MRI-calculated left-ventricular mass and wet weight.


CONCLUSIONS
Using optimized sequences on a clinical 1.5-T MR scanner can provide accurate quantification of cardiac function in small animals and can promote cardiovascular research on small animals at 1.5-T.
Montet-Abou
K
K
Radiology and Medical Informatics Department, Digital Imaging Unit (UIN), Geneva University Hospital, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. Karin.Montet-Abou@hcuge.ch
Daire
J L
JL
Ivancevic
M K
MK
Hyacinthe
J N
JN
Nguyen
D
D
Jorge-Costa
M
M
Morel
D R
DR
Vallée
J P
JP
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology; D016276:Ventricular Function; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*; D014741:Video Recording / Q000379:methods*