title: The feasibility of myocardial infarct visualization using atrial kick induced strain (AKIS) contrast.
abstract: The most common mechanical measure of the heart integrates ventricular strain between end-diastole and end-systole in order to provide a measure of contraction. Here an approach is described for estimating a correlate to local passive mechanical properties. Passive strain is measured by estimating ventricular strain during atrial systole. During atrial systole the atria contract causing passive stretching in the ventricles from increased volume. This modification to traditional cardiac strain is here termed atrial kick induced strain (AKIS) imaging. AKIS imaging was evaluated in a canine ablation model of chronic infarct and a canine true chronic infarct model. AKIS images of ablation lesions were compared against acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) images and tissue blanching, and true chronic infarct AKIS images were compared against delayed enhanced-contrast magnetic resonance. AKIS images were made with 2-D and 3-D ultrasound data. In both studies, AKIS images and the comparison images show good qualitative agreement and good contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: brett.c.byram@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Byram
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Lowie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Assche
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Gregg E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Trahey
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004285:Dogs; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D013599:Systole
keywords: AKIS; Active filling; Atrial kick; Bayesian speckle tracking; Cardiac elastography; Echocardiography; Elastography; Prestretch; Ultrasound