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Fischer K, Grob L, Setz L, Jung B, Neuenschwander MD, Utz CD, von Tengg-Kobligk H, Huber AT, Friess JO, Guensch DP. Direct comparison of whole heart quantifications between different retrospective and prospective gated 4D flow CMR acquisitions. Front Cardiovasc Med 2024; 11:1411752. [PMID: 39145279 PMCID: PMC11322094 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1411752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a versatile technique to non-invasively assess cardiovascular hemodynamics. With developing technology, choice in sequences and acquisition parameters is expanding and it is important to assess if data acquired with these different variants can be directly compared, especially when combining datasets within research studies. For example, sequences may allow a choice in gating techniques or be limited to one method, yet there is not a direct comparison investigating how gating selection impacts quantifications of the great vessels, semilunar and atrioventricular valves and ventricles. Thus, this study investigated if quantifications across the heart from contemporary 4D flow sequences are comparable between two commonly used 4D flow sequences reliant on different ECG gating techniques. Methods Forty participants (33 healthy controls, seven patients with coronary artery disease and abnormal diastolic function) were prospectively recruited into a single-centre observational study to undergo a 3T-CMR exam. Two acquisitions, a k-t GRAPPA 4D flow with prospective gating (4Dprosp) and a modern compressed sensing 4D flow with retrospective gating (4Dretro), were acquired in each participant. Images were analyzed for volumes, flow rates and velocities in the vessels and four valves, and for biventricular kinetic energy and flow components. Data was compared for group differences with paired t-tests and for agreement with Bland-Altman and intraclass correlation (ICC). Results Measurements primarily occurring during systole of the great vessels, semilunar valves and both left and right ventricles did not differ between acquisition types (p > 0.05 from t-test) and yielded good to excellent agreement (ICC: 0.75-0.99). Similar findings were observed for the majority of parameters dependent on early diastole. However, measurements occurring in late diastole or those reliant on the entire-cardiac cycle such as flow component volumes along with diastolic kinetic energy values were not similar between 4Dprosp and 4Dretro acquisitions resulting in poor agreement (ICC < 0.50). Discussion Direct comparison of measurements between two different 4D flow acquisitions reliant on different gating methods demonstrated systolic and early diastolic markers across the heart should be compatible when comparing these two 4D flow sequences. On the other hand, late diastolic and intraventricular parameters should be compared with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kady Fischer
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Leonard Grob
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Louis Setz
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Bernd Jung
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Paediatric Radiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translational Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Sitem-Insel, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Mario D. Neuenschwander
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Christoph D. Utz
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Hendrik von Tengg-Kobligk
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Paediatric Radiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translational Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Sitem-Insel, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Adrian T. Huber
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Paediatric Radiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
| | - Jan O. Friess
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Dominik P. Guensch
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Paediatric Radiology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Ganizada BH, J A Veltrop R, Akbulut AC, Koenen RR, Accord R, Lorusso R, Maessen JG, Reesink K, Bidar E, Schurgers LJ. Unveiling cellular and molecular aspects of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Basic Res Cardiol 2024; 119:371-395. [PMID: 38700707 PMCID: PMC11143007 DOI: 10.1007/s00395-024-01053-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Revised: 04/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) remains a significant medical concern, with its asymptomatic nature posing diagnostic and monitoring challenges, thereby increasing the risk of aortic wall dissection and rupture. Current management of aortic repair relies on an aortic diameter threshold. However, this approach underestimates the complexity of aortic wall disease due to important knowledge gaps in understanding its underlying pathologic mechanisms.Since traditional risk factors cannot explain the initiation and progression of ATAA leading to dissection, local vascular factors such as extracellular matrix (ECM) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) might harbor targets for early diagnosis and intervention. Derived from diverse embryonic lineages, VSMCs exhibit varied responses to genetic abnormalities that regulate their contractility. The transition of VSMCs into different phenotypes is an adaptive response to stress stimuli such as hemodynamic changes resulting from cardiovascular disease, aging, lifestyle, and genetic predisposition. Upon longer exposure to stress stimuli, VSMC phenotypic switching can instigate pathologic remodeling that contributes to the pathogenesis of ATAA.This review aims to illuminate the current understanding of cellular and molecular characteristics associated with ATAA and dissection, emphasizing the need for a more nuanced comprehension of the impaired ECM-VSMC network.
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MESH Headings
- Humans
- Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic/pathology
- Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic/genetics
- Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic/metabolism
- Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic/physiopathology
- Aortic Dissection/pathology
- Aortic Dissection/genetics
- Aortic Dissection/metabolism
- Animals
- Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/pathology
- Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/metabolism
- Myocytes, Smooth Muscle/pathology
- Myocytes, Smooth Muscle/metabolism
- Aorta, Thoracic/pathology
- Aorta, Thoracic/physiopathology
- Vascular Remodeling
- Extracellular Matrix/pathology
- Extracellular Matrix/metabolism
- Phenotype
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Affiliation(s)
- Berta H Ganizada
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart and Vascular Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Rogier J A Veltrop
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Asim C Akbulut
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Rory R Koenen
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Ryan Accord
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Center for Congenital Heart Disease, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roberto Lorusso
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart and Vascular Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Jos G Maessen
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart and Vascular Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Koen Reesink
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Heart and Vascular Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Elham Bidar
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart and Vascular Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Leon J Schurgers
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
- CARIM, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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Nallamothu T, Pradella M, Markl M, Greenland P, Passman R, Elbaz MS. Robust and fast stochastic 4D flow vector-field signature technique for quantifying composite flow dynamics from 4D flow MRI: Application to left atrial flow in atrial fibrillation. Med Image Anal 2024; 92:103065. [PMID: 38113616 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2023.103065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
4D flow MRI is an emerging imaging modality that maps voxel-wise blood flow information as velocity vector fields that is acquired in 7-dimensional image volumes (3 spatial dimensions + 3 velocity directions + time). Blood flow in the cardiovascular system is often complex and composite involving multiple flow dynamics and patterns (e.g., vortex flow, jets, stagnating flow) that occur and interact simultaneously. The spectrum of such complex flow dynamics is embedded in the velocity vector field dynamics derived from 4D Flow MRI. However, current flow metrics cannot fully measure high-dimensional vector-field data and embedded complex composite flow data. Instead, these methods need to break down the vector-field data into secondary scalar fields of individual flow components using fluid dynamics operators. These methods are gradient-based and sensitive to data uncertainties, and only focus on individual flow components of the overall composite flow, therefore potentially underestimating the severity of overall flow changes associated with cardiovascular diseases. To address these limitations, in MICCAI 2021, we introduced a novel comprehensive stochastic 4D Flow vector-field signature technique that works directly on the entire spatiotemporal velocity vector field. This technique uses efficient stochastic gradient-free interrogation of multi-million flow vector-pairs per patient to derive the patient's unique flow profile of the complex composite flow alterations and in real-time processing. The signature technique's probabilistic gradient-free formulation should allow for highly robust quantification despite inherent errors in 4D flow MRI acquisitions. Here, we extend the application of the 4D flow vector-field signature technique to the left atrium to analyze complex composite flow changes in patients with atrial fibrillation. In 128 subjects, we performed extensive sensitivity testing and determined that the vector-field signature technique is highly robust to typical sources of data uncertainties in 4D flow MRI: degradation in spatiotemporal resolution, added Gaussian noise, and segmentation errors. We demonstrate the excellent generalizability of the stochastic convergence from the aorta to the left atrium and between different 4D Flow MRI acquisition protocols. We compare the robustness of our technique to existing advanced flow quantification metrics of kinetic energy, vorticity, and energy loss demonstrating a superior performance of up-to 14-fold. Our results show the potential diagnostic and clinical utility of our signature technique in identifying distinctly altered composite flow signatures in atrial fibrillation patients independent of existing flow metrics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thara Nallamothu
- Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States; Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Maurice Pradella
- Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States; Department of Radiology, Clinic of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael Markl
- Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States; Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Philip Greenland
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Rod Passman
- Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Mohammed Sm Elbaz
- Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States.
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Hyodo R, Takehara Y, Naganawa S. 4D Flow MRI in the portal venous system: imaging and analysis methods, and clinical applications. Radiol Med 2022; 127:1181-1198. [PMID: 36123520 PMCID: PMC9587937 DOI: 10.1007/s11547-022-01553-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Thus far, ultrasound, CT, and 2D cine phase-contrast MRI has been adopted to evaluate blood flow and vascular morphology in the portal venous system; however, all these techniques have some shortcomings, such as limited field of view and difficulty in accurately evaluating blood flow. A new imaging technique, namely 3D cine phase-contrast (4D Flow) MRI, can acquire blood flow data of the entire abdomen at once and in a time-resolved manner, allowing visual, quantitative, and comprehensive assessment of blood flow in the portal venous system. In addition, a retrospective blood flow analysis, i.e., "retrospective flowmetry," is possible. Although the development of 4D Flow MRI for the portal system has been delayed compared to that for the arterial system owing to the lower flow velocity of the portal venous system and the presence of respiratory artifacts, several useful reports have recently been published as the technology has advanced. In the first part of this narrative review article, technical considerations of image acquisition and analysis methods of 4D Flow MRI for the portal venous system and the validations of their results are described. In the second part, the current clinical application of 4D Flow MRI for the portal venous system is reviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryota Hyodo
- Department of Radiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
| | - Yasuo Takehara
- Department of Radiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan
- Department of Fundamental Development for Advanced Low Invasive Diagnostic Imaging, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Shinji Naganawa
- Department of Radiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan
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Abstract
This special issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences features the most recent reviews on 4D Flow MRI. These reviews deal with the current status of the emerging technique of 4D Flow MRI facilitated in various areas that are difficult to obtain with conventional flowmetry. MR signals inherently contain flow velocity information. In previous decades, in vivo blood flow measurement was traditionally performed by 2D methods, such as Doppler ultrasonography and 2D phase-contrast MRI, which have long been regarded as mature techniques in hemodynamic flowmetry. Although 2D velocimetries have many advantages over 4D Flow MRI in terms of cost and accessibility, and provide excellent temporal and in-plane spatial resolutions, they also have some disadvantages. The emerging technology of 4D Flow MRI can overcome the shortcomings of conventional 2D imaging. In recent years, hemodynamic analysis has witnessed significant progress that is primarily attributable to advances in 4D Flow MRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuo Takehara
- Department of Fundamental Development for Low Invasive Diagnostic Imaging, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine
| | - Tetsuro Sekine
- Department of Radiology, Nippon Medical School Musashi Kosugi Hospital
| | - Takayuki Obata
- Applied MRI Research, Department of Molecular Imaging and Theranostics, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology
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