Magnetic resonance tissue phase mapping of myocardial motion: new insight in age and gender.

BACKGROUND: An exact understanding of normal age- and gender-matched regional myocardial performance is an essential prerequisite for the diagnosis of heart disease. Magnetic resonance phase-contrast imaging (tissue phase mapping) enabling the analysis of segmental, 3-directional myocardial velocities with high temporal resolution (13.8 ms) was used to assess left ventricular motion. METHODS AND RESULTS: Radial, long-axis, and rotational myocardial velocities were acquired in 58 healthy volunteers (3 age groups, 29 women) in left ventricular basal, midventricular, and apical short-axis locations. For increased age, reduced (P<0.003) and prolonged long-axis and radial velocities (P<0.05) during diastole and reduced long-axis velocities (P<0.001) and apical rotation (P<0.005) during systole were found for both genders. Women demonstrated a reduced systolic twist (P=0.009), apical rotation (P=0.01), and systolic radial velocities (P<0.02) compared with men. Segmental analysis of long-axis motion with aging revealed differences in regional reduction of systolic (lateral 52% versus 30%) and diastolic (lateral 57% versus 41%) velocities in women compared with men. In basal segments, young women demonstrated higher long-axis velocities (+11% during diastole) than men, whereas this difference was reversed in older subjects (same segments, -20%). In addition, increased age resulted in a prolonged time to peak diastolic apical rotation (P<0.04) in women compared with men. CONCLUSIONS: Age and gender strongly influence regional myocardial motion. Tissue phase mapping provides a comprehensive quantitative analysis of all myocardial velocities with high temporal and spatial resolution. The knowledge of the detected age- and gender-related differences in myocardial motion is fundamental for further investigations of cardiac disease. Clinical Trial Registration- http://www.zks.uni-freiburg.de/uklreg/php/suchergebnis_all.php. Identifier: UKF001739.

Visualization of multidirectional regional left ventricular dynamics by high-temporal-resolution tissue phase mapping.

PURPOSE: To apply high-temporal-resolution tissue phase mapping (TPM) to derive a detailed representation of normal regional myocardial motion in a large cohort of 58 normal subjects (three age groups) and one patient with dilated cardiomyopathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Analysis included transformation of the acquired myocardial velocities into radial, circumferential, and long-axis motion components representing left ventricular (LV) function with a spatiotemporal resolution of 1.3 x 2.6 x 8 mm(3) and 13.8 msec, respectively. To compare multidirectional regional myocardial velocities between groups of subjects, a multisegment and multislice visualization model was employed. Regional myocardial motion was mapped onto the visualization model to display the current status of myocardial motion from base to apex as in-plane velocity vector fields in conjunction with color-coded long-axis plane motion. Moreover, correlation analysis was used to investigate regional differences in myocardial dynamics. RESULTS: Age-related changes in LV myocardial velocities resulted in significant differences of peak and time-to-peak velocities in the radial and long-axis directions. Correlation analysis revealed clearly visible regional differences in the temporal evolution of long-axis and circumferential velocities, particularly between the youngest and oldest age groups. Comparison of pathological LV motion with age-matched volunteers indicated marked regional alterations in myocardial velocities and dynamics. CONCLUSION: High-temporal-resolution TPM in combination with a schematic visualization model and correlation analysis permits the identification of local changes in myocardial velocities associated with different age groups and a common LV pathology.