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Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Healthy and Infarcted Porcine Hearts: Study on the Impact of Formalin Fixation
Ria Mazumder1, Seongjin Choi2, Bradley D Clymer1
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 205 Dreese Laboratories, 2015 Neil Avenue, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Insights
Formalin fixation alters cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) properties, impacting results for myocardial infarction (MI) studies. This fixation process can lead to conflicting findings in cardiac remodeling research.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Biomedical Engineering
- Pathology
Background:
- Cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is complex in-vivo.
- Ex-vivo formalin-fixed specimens are used to study cardiac remodeling, but yield conflicting results.
- Formalin fixation's impact on DTI properties and its influence on myocardial infarction (MI) research require investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the impact of formalin fixation on cardiac DTI properties.
- Optimize DTI tracking parameters using control specimens.
- Understand structural remodeling in MI using optimized parameters.
Main Methods:
- Performed DTI on formalin-fixed porcine hearts (4 controls, 4 MI).
- Scanned control hearts pre- and post-fixation.
- Estimated fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC); optimized tracking parameters (FA, tract termination angle, fiber-length).
Main Results:
- Formalin fixation increased ADC and decreased FA.
- MI hearts showed increased ADC and decreased FA in the infarcted zone.
- Fibers near infarction were shorter and disarrayed compared to controls.
Conclusions:
- Formalin fixation significantly alters cardiac DTI properties.
- Observed DTI trends in pathology may be influenced by fixation artifacts.
- Fixation-induced changes can lead to contradictory findings in cardiac remodeling studies.
Background:
Due to complexities of in-vivo cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), ex-vivo formalin-fixed specimens are used to investigate cardiac remodeling in diseases, and reported results have shown conflicting trends. This study investigates the impact of formalin-fixation on diffusion properties and optimizes tracking parameters based on controls to understand remodeling in myocardial-infarction (MI).
Methods:
DTI was performed on 4 healthy (controls) and 4 MI induced formalin-fixed (PoMI) ex-vivo porcine hearts. Controls were scanned pre-fixation (PrCtrl) and re-scanned (PoCtrl) after formalin-fixation. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were estimated in all hearts. Tracking parameters (FA, tract termination angle (TTA), fiber-length) were optimized in controls and then used to investigate structural remodeling in PoMI hearts.
Results:
Fixation increased ADC and decreased FA. PoMI showed increased ADC but decreased FA in infarcted zone compared to remote zone. TTA showed sharp increase in slope from 5°-10°, which flattened after 25° in all groups. Mean fiber-length for different tracking length range showed that PoCtrl had shorter fibers compared to PrCtrl. Fibers around infarction were shorter in length and disarrayed compared to PoCtrl group.
Conclusion:
Formalin-fixation affects diffusion properties and hence DTI parametric trends observed in pathology may be influenced by the fixation process which can cause contradictory findings.
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