title: Three-Directional Evaluation of Mitral Flow in the Rat Heart by Phase-Contrast Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Determination of mitral flow is an important aspect in assessment of cardiac function. Traditionally, mitral flow is measured by Doppler echocardiography which suffers from several challenges, particularly related to the direction and the spatial inhomogeneity of flow. These challenges are especially prominent in rodents. The purpose of this study was to establish a cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) protocol for evaluation of three-directional mitral flow in a rodent model of cardiac disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three-directional mitral flow were evaluated by phase contrast CMR (PC-CMR) in rats with aortic banding (AB) (N = 7) and sham-operated controls (N = 7). Peak mitral flow and deceleration rate from PC-CMR was compared to conventional Doppler echocardiography. The accuracy of PC-CMR was investigated by comparison of spatiotemporally integrated mitral flow with left ventricular stroke volume assessed by cine CMR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PC-CMR portrayed the spatial distribution of mitral flow and flow direction in the atrioventricular plane throughout diastole. Both PC-CMR and echocardiography demonstrated increased peak mitral flow velocity and higher deceleration rate in AB compared to sham. Comparison with cine CMR revealed that PC-CMR measured mitral flow with excellent accuracy. Echocardiography presented significantly lower values of flow compared to PC-CMR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For the first time, we show that PC-CMR offers accurate evaluation of three-directional mitral blood flow in rodents. The method successfully detects alterations in the mitral flow pattern in response to cardiac disease and provides novel insight into the characteristics of mitral flow.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|KG Jebsen Cardiac Research Center and Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skårdal
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|KG Jebsen Cardiac Research Center and Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Emil K S
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Espe
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|KG Jebsen Cardiac Research Center and Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|Bjørknes College, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Jan Magnus
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Aronsen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Medical Research, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.|KG Jebsen Cardiac Research Center and Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ivar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sjaastad
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000503:physiopathology; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology; D006334:Heart Function Tests / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015203:Reproducibility of Results