Fast tracking of cardiac motion using 3D-HARP

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2005 Aug;52(8):1425-35. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2005.851490.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance (MR) tagging is capable of accurate, noninvasive quantification of regional myocardial function. Routine clinical use, however, is hindered by cumbersome and time-consuming postprocessing procedures. We propose a fast, semiautomatic method for tracking three-dimensional (3-D) cardiac motion from a temporal sequence of short- and long-axis tagged MR images. The new method, called 3-D-HARmonic Phase (3D-HARP), extends the HARP approach, previously described for two-dimensional (2-D) tag analysis, to 3-D. A 3-D material mesh model is built to represent a collection of material points inside the left ventricle (LV) wall at a reference time. Harmonic phase, a material property that is time-invariant, is used to track the motion of the mesh through a cardiac cycle. Various motion-related functional properties of the myocardium, such as circumferential strain and left ventricular twist, are computed from the tracked mesh. The correlation analysis of 3D-HARP and FINDTAGS + Tag Strain(E) Analysis (TEA), which are well-established tag analysis techniques, shows that the regression coefficients of circumferential strain (E(CC)) and twist angle are r2 = 0.8605 and r2 = 0.8645, respectively. The total time required for tracking 3-D cardiac motion is approximately 10 min in a 9 timeframe tagged MRI dataset and has the potential to be much faster.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Computer Simulation
  • Computer Systems
  • Contrast Media*
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Heart Ventricles / anatomy & histology*
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Models, Cardiovascular
  • Movement / physiology*
  • Myocardial Contraction / physiology
  • Ventricular Function*

Substances

  • Contrast Media