title: Cardiac magnetic resonance, transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography: a comparison of in vivo assessment of ventricular function in rats.
abstract: In vivo assessment of ventricular function in rodents has largely been restricted to transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). However 1.5 T cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) have emerged as possible alternatives. Yet, to date, no study has systematically assessed these three imaging modalities in determining ejection fraction (EF) in rats. Twenty rats underwent imaging four weeks after surgically-induced myocardial infarction. CMR was performed on a 1.5 T scanner, TTE was conducted using a 9.2 MHz transducer and TOE was performed with a 10 MHz intracardiac echo catheter. Correlation between the three techniques for EF determination and analysis reproducibility was assessed. Moderate-strong correlation was observed between the three modalities; the greatest between CMR and TOE (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.89), followed by TOE and TTE (ICC = 0.70) and CMR and TTE (ICC = 0.63). Intra- and inter-observer variations were excellent with CMR (ICC = 0.99 and 0.98 respectively), very good with TTE (0.90 and 0.89) and TOE (0.87 and 0.84). Each modality is a viable option for evaluating ventricular function in rats, however the high image quality and excellent reproducibility of CMR offers distinct advantages even at 1.5 T with conventional coils and software.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Centre, Royal Adelaide Hospital and Department of Medicine, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Bertaso
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Psaltis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carbone
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koschade
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paton
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azarisman
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Worthley
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gronthos
authors.forename: A C W
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Zannettino
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Worthley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000662:veterinary*; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000662:veterinary*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016276:Ventricular Function
keywords: cardiac magnetic resonance; intracardiac echocardiography; left ventricular function; transoesophageal echocardiography; transthoracic echocardiography