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Inlet and outlet valve flow and regurgitant volume may be directly and reliably quantified with accelerated, volumetric phase‐contrast MRI
Author(s) -
Hsiao Albert,
Tariq Umar,
Alley Marcus T.,
Lustig Michael,
Vasanawala Shreyas S.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.24578
Subject(s) - phase contrast microscopy , volume (thermodynamics) , medicine , inlet , contrast (vision) , flow (mathematics) , nuclear medicine , mechanics , geology , computer science , physics , optics , quantum mechanics , geomorphology , artificial intelligence
Purpose To determine whether it is feasible to use solely an accelerated 4D phase‐contrast magnetic resonance imaging (4D‐PC MRI) acquisition to quantify net and regurgitant flow volume through each of the cardiac valves. Materials and Methods Accelerated, 4D‐PC MRI examinations performed between March 2010 through June 2011 as part of routine MRI examinations for congenital, structural heart disease were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed using valve‐tracking visualization and quantification algorithms developed in Java and OpenGL. Excluding patients with transposition or single ventricle physiology, a total of 34 consecutive pediatric patients (19 male, 15 female; mean age 6.9 years; age range 10 months to 15 years) were identified. 4D‐PC flow measurements were compared at each valve and against routine measurements from conventional cardiac MRI using Bland–Altman and Pearson correlation analysis. Results Inlet and outlet valve net flow were highly correlated between all valves ( P = 0.940–0.985). The sum of forward flow at the outlet valve and regurgitant flow at the inlet valve were consistent with volumetric displacements in each ventricle ( P = 0.939–0.948). These were also highly consistent with conventional planar MRI measurements with net flow ( P = 0.923–0.935) and regurgitant fractions ( P = 0.917–0.972) at the outlet valve and ventricular volumes ( P = 0.925–0.965). Conclusion It is possible to obtain consistent measurements of net and regurgitant blood flow across the inlet and outlet valves relying solely on accelerated 4D‐PC. This may facilitate more efficient clinical quantification of valvular regurgitation. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:376–385. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .