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Quantification of aortic stiffness using magnetic resonance elastography: Measurement reproducibility, pulse wave velocity comparison, changes over cardiac cycle, and relationship with age
Author(s) -
Kenyhercz William E.,
Raterman Brian,
Illapani Venkata Sita Priyanka,
Dowell Joshua,
Mo Xiaokui,
White Richard D.,
Kolipaka Arunark
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.25719
Subject(s) - reproducibility , cardiac cycle , systole , magnetic resonance elastography , diastole , cardiology , pulse wave velocity , medicine , aorta , materials science , elastography , ultrasound , mathematics , radiology , blood pressure , statistics
Purpose To assess MR elastography (MRE)‐derived aortic shear stiffness (μ MRE ) measurements for: 1) reproducibility, 2) comparison to pulse wave velocity, 3) changes over the cardiac cycle, and 4) relationship with age. Methods Cardiac‐gated aortic MRE was performed on 20 healthy volunteers (aged 20–73 years). For assessing reproducibility of stiffness measurements, scans were repeated per volunteer. MRE wave images were analyzed to obtain stiffness of the abdominal aorta across the cardiac cycle, and comparisons were made with subject age. Results Analysis of concordance correlation coefficient between scans 1 and 2 showed that r c = 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.77, 0.94) with P < 0.0001. Significantly higher μ MRE was observed for all volunteers during end‐systole when compared to end‐diastole ( P < 0.0001). μ MRE increased with age; end‐systolic stiffness demonstrated a relatively stronger correlation with age ( r = 0.62, P = 0.003) when compared to end‐diastolic stiffness ( r = 0.51, P = 0.023); and the slopes of end‐systole and end‐diastole were found to be significantly different ( P = 0.011).μ M R Eat end‐systole and end‐diastole correlated linearly with pulse wave velocity, with an r = 0.54 ( P = 0.013) and r = 0.58 ( P = 0.008), respectively. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that MRE‐derived aortic shear stiffness measurements are robust (reproducible and comparable to similar techniques). Mean μ MRE was higher during end‐systole when compared to end‐diastole. μ MRE was found to increase with age and showed a stronger correlation with end‐systolic stiffness than with end‐diastolic stiffness. Magn Reson Med 75:1920–1926, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.