Adaptive postprocessing techniques for myocardial tissue tracking with displacement-encoded MR imaging.
The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the effects of two adaptive postprocessing techniques on the evaluation of myocardial function with displacement-encoded magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including sensitivity for abnormal wall motion, with two-dimensional echocardiography as the reference standard. Sixteen patients (11 men, five women; age range, 26-74 years) and 12 volunteers (six men, six women; age range, 29-53 years) underwent breath-hold MR imaging. Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained. Adaptive phase-unwrapping and spatial filtering techniques were compared with conventional phase-unwrapping and spatial filtering techniques. Use of the adaptive techniques led to a reduced rate of failure with the phase-unwrapping technique from 18.9% to 0.6% (P < .001), resulted in lower variability of segmental strain measurements among healthy volunteers (P < .001 to P = .02), and increased the sensitivity of quantitative detection of abnormal segments in patients from 82.5% to 87.7% (P = .034). The adaptive techniques improved the semiautomated postprocessing of displacement-encoded cardiac images and increased the sensitivity of detection of abnormal wall motion in patients.


BACKGROUND
http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/246/1/229/DC1.
Wen
Han
H
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 10, B1D416, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. wenh@nhlbi.nih.gov
Marsolo
Keith A
KA
Bennett
Eric E
EE
Kutten
Kwame S
KS
Lewis
Ryan P
RP
Lipps
David B
DB
Epstein
Neal D
ND
Plehn
Jonathan F
JF
Croisille
Pierre
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies