title: Assessment of left atrial function by MRI myocardial feature tracking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Left atrium (LA) volumes and function are predictors of cardiovascular events. Because LA function cannot be assessed from cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the well-established left ventricular tagging techniques, we hypothesized that adequate feature tracking (FT) applied to conventional cine MRI data could characterize LA function accurately.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 10 young (28 ± 7 years) and 10 elderly (64 ± 6 years) healthy subjects, as well as 20 patients with moderate to severe aortic valve stenosis (AVS; 73 ± 15 years, effective aortic valve area: 0.67 ± 0.36 cm(2) ). MRI cine two-, three-, and four-chamber views were analyzed using a newly proposed FT method based on spatial correlation and endocardial detection resulting in: regional and global longitudinal strain and strain rate, radial motion fraction and relative velocity for the three LA motion phases including reservoir, conduit, and LA contraction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FT reliability was indicated by a good overlap between tracking results and manual LA endocardial borders, the low error for comparison against theoretical strains introduced in a synthetic phantom and the good inter-observer reproducibility (coefficient of variation < 15%). While all LA functional parameters were significantly impaired in AVS patients (p < 0.04), subclinical age-related variations induced a decreasing trend on all LA parameters but were significant only for radial conduit function parameters (p < 0.03). Finally, LA functional parameters characterized LA alteration in AVS with higher sensitivity than conventional LA volumetric parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Left atrial FT is feasible on MRI cine images and its addition to conventional analysis tools might enhance the diagnosis value of MRI in many heart diseases.
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Morgane
authors: M
authors: Evin
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|Department of Cardiovascular Radiology, Institut of Cardiologie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Cluzel
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Jerôme
authors: J
authors: Lamy
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Rosenbaum
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|ICAN Imaging Core Lab, Paris, France.
authors: Slawek
authors: S
authors: Kusmia
authors: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Carine
authors: C
authors: Defrance
authors: ICAN Imaging Core Lab, Paris, France.
authors: Gilles
authors: G
authors: Soulat
authors: Cardiology Departement, European Hospital Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
authors: Elie
authors: E
authors: Mousseaux
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Charles
authors: C
authors: Roux
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.
authors: Karine
authors: K
authors: Clement
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1166, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Stéphane N
authors: SN
authors: Hatem
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|Department of Cardiovascular Radiology, Institut of Cardiologie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors: Alban
authors: A
authors: Redheuil
authors: Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7371, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|INSERM, UMRS 1146, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.|CNRS, UMR 7371, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France.
authors: Nadjia
authors: N
authors: Kachenoura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: feature tracking; left atrial function; magnetic resonance imaging; myocardial strain and strain rate