Measurement of myocardial structure: 3D structure tensor analysis of high resolution MRI quantitatively compared to DT-MRI

Abstract

The ventricular myocardium has a structure of branching laminae through which course regularly orientated fibers, an architecture important in excitation and contraction. DT-MRI is used to measure the fiber and laminar orientations. We quantify the performance of DT-MRI and structure tensor (ST) analysis of 3D high resolution MRI in five rat hearts and validate these against manual measurements. The ST and DT data are more similar for measures of the fiber orientation than laminar orientation. The average angle differences of elevation angles are 2.3±27.2°, R = 0.57 for the fiber, 3.62±36.2°, R = 0.24 for the laminae and 10.7±37.9°, R = 0.32 for the laminae normal. The difference between DT and manually measured laminar orientation is 17±15° for DT and 5±10° for ST. DT and ST are comparable measures of the fiber orientation but ST is a better measure of myolaminar orientation. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.