Determination of the left ventricular long-axis orientation from a single short-axis MR image: relation to BMI and age

Authors: Henrik Engblom¹; Erik Hedström¹; John Palmer²; Galen S. Wagner³; Håkan Arheden¹

Source: Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging, Volume 24, Number 5, September 2004 , pp. 310-315(6)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Summary

Accurate determination of imaging planes in relation to the left ventricular (LV) long-axis orientation is important for anatomical and functional evaluation as well as for serial comparisons with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. Therefore, a fast and reliable method to test the accuracy of CMR imaging for measuring the orientation of the LV long-axis was developed and validated. In addition, the relationship between LV long-axis orientation and body mass index (BMI), gender and age was assessed. Two approaches were used, a long-axis approach (based on a manually defined vector) and a short-axis approach (based on a calculated vector). The concordance between the two approaches was assessed in 72 healthy volunteers. The accuracy and precision of MR imaging for measuring three-dimensional orientations were tested using a LV phantom. The mean difference between the long- and short-axis approaches for measuring the LV long-axis orientation in the study population was 0 ± 3°, 0 ± 2°, and -1 ± 3° in the frontal, transverse and sagittal plane, respectively. BMI and age were shown to influence LV long-axis orientation, especially in the frontal and sagittal planes. A significant difference in LV long-axis orientation in the frontal and sagittal planes was found between genders. The correlation coefficient between MR-measured phantom orientation and true phantom orientation was >0·98 in all three orthogonal planes. These observations suggest that a single LV short-axis MR image can be used for measuring LV long-axis orientation in patients with no cardiac disease.

Keywords: cardiac anatomy; healthy individuals; heart orientation; normal cardiac function; optimal imaging planes; orthogonal planes

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-097X.2004.00569.x

Affiliations: 1: Clinical Physiology 2: Radiation Physics, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden 3: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

Publication date: 2004-09-01

Determination of the left ventricular long-axis orientation from a single short-axis MR image: relation to BMI and age

Buy & download fulltext article:

Tools

Key

Text size:

Useful pages