Adaptive Postprocessing Techniques for Myocardial Tissue Tracking with Displacement-encoded MR Imaging1

The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the effects of two adaptive postprocessing techniques on the evaluation of myocardial function with displacement-encoded magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including sensitivity for abnormal wall motion, with two-dimensional echocardiography as the reference standard. Sixteen patients (11 men, five women; age range, 26–74 years) and 12 volunteers (six men, six women; age range, 29–53 years) underwent breath-hold MR imaging. Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained. Adaptive phase-unwrapping and spatial filtering techniques were compared with conventional phase-unwrapping and spatial filtering techniques. Use of the adaptive techniques led to a reduced rate of failure with the phase-unwrapping technique from 18.9% to 0.6% ( P < .001), resulted in lower variability of segmental strain measurements among healthy volunteers ( P < .001 to P = .02), and increased the sensitivity of quantitative detection of abnormal segments in patients from 82.5% to 87.7% ( P = .034). The adaptive techniques improved the semiautomated postprocessing of displacement-encoded cardiac images and increased the sensitivity of detection of abnormal wall motion in patients. Supplemental material: http://radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/246/1/229/DC1 © RSNA, 2008