Normal left ventricular dimensions and function: interstudy reproducibility of measurements with cine MR imaging

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Medical Physics
• Radiology

Background:

• Accurate measurement of left ventricular (LV) dimensions is crucial for assessing cardiac function.
• Reproducibility of measurements is essential for reliable clinical interpretation and longitudinal studies.
• Cine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a key modality for cardiac assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reproducibility of ventricular dimension measurements using cine MR imaging.
• To determine interobserver and interstudy variability for key LV parameters.
• To assess the reliability of cine MR imaging for quantitative cardiac analysis.

Main Methods:

• 11 healthy subjects underwent cine MR imaging on two separate occasions.
• Two blinded reviewers analyzed the MR images.
• Measurements included LV mass, end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, ejection fraction, and systolic wall stress.

Main Results:

• LV mass demonstrated good reproducibility (3.6%-3.8% variability).
• LV volumes and ejection fraction showed acceptable interstudy variability (0.9%-9.7%).
• End-systolic wall stress exhibited the largest variability (11.1%-13.5%), primarily due to arterial pressure fluctuations.

Conclusions:

• Anatomic and functional measurements derived from cine MR images are reproducible between studies.
• The direct derivation of measurements from full cardiac cine MR images contributes to high reproducibility.
• Cine MR imaging is a reliable tool for quantitative assessment of left ventricular parameters.