Real-Time Strain-Encoding Cardiovascular MRI for Assessment of Regional Heart Function in Tetralogy of Fallot Patients

El-Sayed H Ibrahim; Prachi P Agarwal; Maryam Ghadimi-Mahani; Jadranka Stojanovska; Antonio Sosa; Adam L Dorfman; Jimmy C Lu

doi:10.2174/1573405620666230908111811

Real-Time Strain-Encoding Cardiovascular MRI for Assessment of Regional Heart Function in Tetralogy of Fallot Patients

Curr Med Imaging. 2023 Sep 8. doi: 10.2174/1573405620666230908111811. Online ahead of print.

Authors

El-Sayed H Ibrahim¹, Prachi P Agarwal², Maryam Ghadimi-Mahani², Jadranka Stojanovska³, Antonio Sosa¹, Adam L Dorfman², Jimmy C Lu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
² Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
³ Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.

PMID: 37691207
DOI: 10.2174/1573405620666230908111811

Abstract

Background: Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) is the most common form of cyanotic congenital heart disease, where right ventricular (RV) function is an important determinant of subsequent intervention.

Objective: In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of fast strain-encoding (fastSENC; a one-heartbeat sequence) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for assessing regional cardiac function in ToF.

Method: FastSENC was implemented to characterize regional circumferential (Ecc) and longitudinal (Ell) strains in the left ventricle (LV) and RV in post-repair ToF. Data analysis was conducted to compare strain measurements in the RV to those in the LV, as well as to those generated by the MRI Tissue-Tracking (MRI-TT) technique, and to assess the relationship between strain and ejection fraction (EF).

Results: Despite normal LVEF (55±8.5%), RVEF was borderline (46±6.4%), but significantly lower than LVEF. RV strains (RV-Ell=-20.2±2.9%, RV-Ecc=-15.7±6.4%) were less than LV strains (LV-Ell=-21.7±3.7%, LV-Ecc=-18.3±4.7%), and Ell was the dominant strain component. Strain differences between fastSENC and MRI-TT were less significant in RV than in LV. There existed moderate and weak correlations for RV-Ecc and RV-Ell, respectively, against RVEF. Compared to LV strain, RV strain showed regional heterogeneity with a trend for reduced strain from the inferior to anterior regions. Inter-ventricular strain delay was larger for Ell (64±47ms) compared to Ecc (36±40ms), reflecting a trend for contraction dyssynchrony.

Conclusion: FastSENC allows for characterizing subclinical regional RV dysfunction in ToF. Due to its sensitivity for evaluating regional myocardial contractility patterns and real-time imaging capability without the need for breath-holding, fastSENC makes it more suitable for evaluating RV function in ToF.

Keywords: MRI; Tetralogy of Fallot; fastSENC; heart; right ventricle; straiTetralogy of Fallot; strain.