Quantifying myocardial oxygen consumption and efficiency with motion-resolved cardiac MRI

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Medical Physics
• Metabolic Imaging

Background:

• Myocardial oxygen consumption is crucial for heart health, but noninvasive quantification is challenging.
• Impaired myocardial oxygen use predicts heart dysfunction and poor outcomes.
• Current noninvasive methods are limited by complexity, artifacts, and long scan times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a rapid, self-calibrated cardiac MRI technique for noninvasive myocardial oxygen consumption quantification.
• To overcome limitations of existing methods, enabling clinical translation.

Main Methods:

• A novel, rapid, self-calibrated cardiac MRI framework using high-resolution, motion-resolved coronary sinus oximetry.
• Optimization via numerical simulations and validation against invasive methods in a porcine model.
• Integration with clinical MRI sequences for patient studies.

Main Results:

• Quantification of whole-heart myocardial oxygen extraction within 3 minutes.
• Demonstrated feasibility in patients with and without heart failure post-myocardial infarction.
• Successful noninvasive measurement of myocardial oxygen consumption and efficiency.

Conclusions:

• This needle-free MRI approach provides a practical framework for assessing myocardial oxygen metabolism.
• Potential for early disease detection, personalized therapy, and guiding cardiometabolic treatments.
• Offers a radiation-free, contrast-agent-free alternative for cardiac assessment.