Endogenous assessment of diffuse myocardial fibrosis in patients with T1ρ-mapping.
Recently, it was shown that a significantly higher T1ρis found in compact myocardial fibrosis after chronic myocardial infarction. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of native T1ρ-mapping for the detection of diffuse myocardial fibrosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).



T1ρ-mapping was performed on three explanted hearts from DCM patients at 3 Tesla (T). Histological fibrosis quantification was performed, and compared with the T1ρ-relaxation times in the heart. Furthermore, twenty DCM patients underwent an MRI at 1.5T. Native T1ρ-maps, native T1-maps, and extracellular volume (ECV)-maps were acquired. Additionally, eight healthy volunteers were scanned for reference values.



A significant correlation (Pearson r = 0.49; P = 0.005) was found between ex vivo T1ρ-values and fibrosis fraction from histology. Additionally, a significantly higher T1ρ-relaxation time (55.2 ± 2.7 ms) was found in DCM patients compared with healthy control subjects (51.5 ± 1.2 ms) (P = 0.0024). The relation between in vivo T1ρ-values and ECV-values was significant (Pearson r = 0.66). No significant relation was found between native T1- and ECV-values in this study (P = 0.89).



This study showed proof of principle for the endogenous detection of diffuse myocardial fibrosis with T1ρ-MRI. Ex vivo and in vivo experiments showed promising results that T1ρ-MRI can be used to measure the extent of diffuse myocardial fibrosis in the myocardium.



2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:132-138.
Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands.|Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Joep W M
JW
van Oorschot
Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Fatih
F
Güçlü
Department of Medical Physiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Sanne
S
de Jong
Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Steven A J
SA
Chamuleau
Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Peter R
PR
Luijten
Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Tim
T
Leiner
Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Jaco J M
JJ
Zwanenburg
D000465:Algorithms; D057791:Cardiac Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D004719:Endomyocardial Fibrosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
DCM; T1rho; T1ρ-mapping; cardiac; endogenous; native contrast; spin-lock