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Updated: Mar 22, 2026
Quantification of Mouse Heart Left Ventricular Function, Myocardial Strain, and Hemodynamic Forces by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: May 24, 2021
Heart deformation analysis: measuring regional myocardial velocity with MR imaging
Kai Lin1, Jeremy D Collins2, Varun Chowdhary2
1Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, 737 N Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA. kai-lin@northwestern.edu.
Insights
Heart deformation analysis (HDA) offers a faster alternative to tissue phase mapping (TPM) for measuring regional myocardial velocity. While correlations are moderate to good, biases exist, requiring further investigation for clinical application.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular imaging
- Medical physics
- Biomedical engineering
Background:
- Quantifying regional myocardial velocity is crucial for assessing cardiac function.
- Tissue phase mapping (TPM) is a standard but time-consuming technique.
- Heart deformation analysis (HDA) is a potential alternative imaging method.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate heart deformation analysis (HDA) as a faster alternative to tissue phase mapping (TPM) for quantifying regional myocardial velocity.
- To compare the accuracy and processing time of HDA versus TPM.
Main Methods:
- Nineteen healthy volunteers underwent cardiac MRI including cine imaging and TPM.
- Regional myocardial velocities (radial and circumferential) were measured using both HDA and TPM.
- Data were analyzed for correlations and biases between the two methods.
Main Results:
- HDA processing time was significantly shorter than TPM (2.3 min vs. 9.5 min).
- Moderate to good correlations (r=0.409-0.814) were observed between HDA and TPM velocity measurements.
- Significant regional biases were noted between HDA and TPM velocity measures.
Conclusions:
- HDA provides comparable velocity measures to TPM, suggesting its potential as an alternative method.
- The faster processing time of HDA is a significant advantage.
- Further research is needed to address the observed biases for widespread clinical adoption.
Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that heart deformation analysis (HDA) may serve as an alternative for the quantification of regional myocardial velocity. Nineteen healthy volunteers (14 male and 5 female) without documented cardiovascular diseases were recruited following the approval of the institutional review board (IRB). For each participant, cine images (at base, mid and apex levels of the left ventricle [LV]) and tissue phase mapping (TPM, at same short-axis slices of the LV) were acquired within a single magnetic resonance (MR) scan. Regional myocardial velocities in radial and circumferential directions acquired with HDA (Vrr and Vcc) and TPM (Vr and VФ) were measured during the cardiac cycle. HDA required shorter processing time compared to TPM (2.3 ± 1.1 min/case vs. 9.5 ± 3.7 min/case, p < 0.001). Moderate to good correlations between velocity components measured with HDA and TPM could be found on multiple myocardial segments (r = 0.460-0.774) and slices (r = 0.409-0.814) with statistical significance (p < 0.05). However, significant biases of velocity measures at regional myocardial areas between HDA and TPM were also noticed. By providing comparable velocity measures as TPM does, HDA may serve as an alternative for measuring regional myocardial velocity with a faster image processing procedure.
