2D cine DENSE with low encoding frequencies accurately quantifies cardiac mechanics with improved image characteristics

Gregory J. Wehner, Jonathan D. Grabau, Jonathan D. Suever, Christopher M. Haggerty, Linyuan Jing, David K. Powell, Sean M. Hamlet, Moriel H. Vandsburger, Xiaodong Zhong, Brandon K. Fornwalt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Displacement Encoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) encodes displacement into the phase of the magnetic resonance signal. The encoding frequency (ke) maps the measured phase to tissue displacement while the strength of the encoding gradients affects image quality. 2D cine DENSE studies have used a ke of 0.10 cycles/mm, which is high enough to remove an artifact-generating echo from k-space, provide high sensitivity to tissue displacements, and dephase the blood pool. However, through-plane dephasing can remove the unwanted echo and dephase the blood pool without relying on high ke. Additionally, the high sensitivity comes with the costs of increased phase wrapping and intra-voxel dephasing. We hypothesized that ke below 0.10 cycles/mm can be used to improve image characteristics and provide accurate measures of cardiac mechanics. Methods: Spiral cine DENSE images were obtained for 10 healthy subjects and 10 patients with a history of heart disease on a 3 T Siemens Trio. A mid-ventricular short-axis image was acquired with different ke: 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10 cycles/mm. Peak twist, circumferential strain, and radial strain were compared between acquisitions employing different ke using Bland-Altman analyses and coefficients of variation. The percentage of wrapped pixels in the phase images at end-systole was calculated for each ke. The dephasing of the blood signal and signal to noise ratio (SNR) were also calculated and compared. Results: Negligible differences were seen in strains and twist for all ke between 0.04 and 0.10 cycles/mm. These differences were of the same magnitude as inter-test differences. Specifically, the acquisitions with 0.04 cycles/mm accurately quantified cardiac mechanics and had zero phase wrapping. Compared to 0.10 cycles/mm, the acquisitions with 0.04 cycles/mm had 9 % greater SNR and negligible differences in blood pool dephasing. Conclusions: For 2D cine DENSE with through-plane dephasing, the encoding frequency can be lowered to 0.04 cycles/mm without compromising the quantification of twist or strain. The amount of wrapping can be reduced with this lower value to greatly simplify the input to unwrapping algorithms. The strain and twist results from studies using different encoding frequencies can be directly compared.

Original languageEnglish
Article number93
JournalJournal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 4 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Wehner et al.

Funding

This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5 OD-012132), NIH grant number T32 HL-072743, and NIH grant number UL1TR000117 from the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

FundersFunder number
National Institutes of Health (NIH)DP5 OD-012132
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)T32HL072743
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
National Center for Research Resources
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)UL1TR000117
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

    Keywords

    • Cardiac mechanics
    • DENSE
    • Displacement
    • Encoding frequency
    • Magnetic resonance
    • Strain
    • Twist

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
    • Family Practice
    • Radiological and Ultrasound Technology
    • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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