Assessing Cardiac 2D Flow MRI Reliability across Various Physiologic, Technical, and Observer Confounders in Healthy...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Phase-contrast cardiac MRI is crucial for quantifying blood flow dynamics.
• Evaluating the reliability of two-dimensional (2D) flow cardiac MRI is essential for clinical application.
• Understanding the impact of technical and physiological factors on measurement precision is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the repeatability and reproducibility of 2D flow cardiac MRI measurements.
• To investigate the influence of physiologic, technical, and observer variations on measurement accuracy.
• To compare 2D flow cardiac MRI with four-dimensional (4D) flow cardiac MRI.

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational study involving 20 healthy volunteers across four MRI sites (1.5-T and 3-T).
• Utilized segmented gradient-echo and real-time sequences with scan-rescan examinations.
• Assessed repeatability, reproducibility, sequence/field strength effects, and interobserver agreement using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).

Main Results:

• Excellent sequence repeatability (ICC > 0.96) and scan-rescan reproducibility (ICC > 0.90) for forward flow volume (FF) and peak velocity (PV).
• High agreement for FF across different sequence types, field strengths, and scanner configurations (ICC > 0.91).
• Good to excellent correlation between 2D and 4D flow cardiac MRI for FF (ICC > 0.93) and moderate for PV (ICC > 0.76).

Conclusions:

• 2D flow cardiac MRI provides highly repeatable measurements for FF and good agreement for PV.
• Measurements demonstrate reliability across different sequences, field strengths, and observers.
• Physiological and technical confounders have minimal impact on the precision of 2D flow cardiac MRI measurements.