• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.252-265
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• 2021

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) serves as a clinical gold-standard non-invasive imaging technique for the assessment of global and regional cardiac function. Conventional cardiac MRI is limited by the long acquisition time, the need for ECG gating and/or long breathhold, and insufficient spatiotemporal resolution. Real-time cardiac cine MRI refers to high spatiotemporal cardiac imaging using data acquired continuously without synchronization or binning, and therefore of potential interest in overcoming the limitations of conventional cardiac MRI. Novel acquisition and reconstruction techniques must be employed to facilitate real-time cardiac MRI. The goal of this study is to discuss methods that have been developed for real-time cardiac MRI. In particular, we classified existing techniques into two categories based on the use of non-iterative and iterative reconstruction. In addition, we present several research trends in this direction, including deep learning-based image reconstruction and other advanced real-time cardiac MRI strategies that reconstruct images acquired from real-time free-breathing techniques.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.437-444
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to compare the cardiac CT and cardiac MRI in calculating and correcting the left ventricle ejection fraction by analyzing the physical and temporal resolution for reducing the misdiagnosis rate. One hundred thirty-eight patients with aortic value regurgitation who underwent both cardiac CT and cardiac MRI were analyzed. Left ventricle ejection fractions calculated from each exam were corrected based on the physical and temporal resolution differences and the reliability test evaluated whether the misdiagnosis rate of cardiac CT was improved after the correction. As a result of the study, the misdiagnosis rate of cardiac CT ejection fraction before correcting the difference in physical and temporal resolution was 38.4%(53 persons). In addition, it can be seen that the corrected cardiac CT ejection fraction confirmed in the Bland-Altman plot was highly consistent with the ejection fraction of cardiac MRI. In conclusion, as the cardiac CT is less well suited for measuring ejection fraction, physical characteristics and the time resolution correction using cardiac MRI is needed and the misdiagnosis rate after correction decreased to 14.5%(20 persons). Therefore, this study appears more appropriate for better prediction of ejection fraction and clinical utility.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2017

Background: Cardiac computed tomography (CT) has emerged as an alternative to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for ventricular volumetry. However, the clinical use of cardiac CT requires external validation. Methods: Both cardiac CT and MRI were performed prior to pulmonary valve implantation (PVI) in 11 patients (median age, 19 years) who had undergone total correction of tetralogy of Fallot during infancy. The simplified contouring method (MRI) and semiautomatic 3-dimensional region-growing method (CT) were used to measure ventricular volumes. Results: All volumetric indices measured by CT and MRI generally correlated well with each other, except for the left ventricular end-systolic volume index (LV-ESVI), which showed the following correlations with the other indices: the right ventricular end-diastolic volume index (RV-EDVI) (r=0.88, p<0.001), the right ventricular end-systolic volume index (RV-ESVI) (r=0.84, p=0.001), the left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LV-EDVI) (r=0.90, p=0.001), and the LV-ESVI (r=0.55, p=0.079). While the EDVIs measured by CT were significantly larger than those measured by MRI (median RV-EDVI: $197mL/m^2$ vs. $175mL/m^2$, p=0.008; median LV-EDVI: $94mL/m^2$ vs. $92mL/m^2$, p=0.026), no significant differences were found for the RV-ESVI or LV-ESVI. Conclusion: The EDVIs measured by cardiac CT were greater than those measured by MRI, whereas the ESVIs measured by CT and MRI were comparable. The volumetric characteristics of these 2 diagnostic modalities should be taken into account when indications for late PVI after tetralogy of Fallot repair are assessed.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.102-113
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• 2019

Objective: To assess the accuracy and potential bias of computed tomography (CT) ventricular volumetry using semiautomatic three-dimensional (3D) threshold-based segmentation in repaired tetralogy of Fallot, and to compare them to those of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 32 patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot who had undergone both cardiac CT and MRI within 3 years. For ventricular volumetry, semiautomatic 3D threshold-based segmentation was used in CT, while a manual simplified contouring 2D method was used in MRI. The indexed ventricular volumes were compared between CT and MRI. The indexed ventricular stroke volumes were compared with the indexed arterial stroke volumes measured using phase-contrast MRI. The mean differences and degrees of agreement in the indexed ventricular and stroke volumes were evaluated using Bland-Altman analysis. Results: The indexed end-systolic (ES) volumes showed no significant difference between CT and MRI (p > 0.05), while the indexed end-diastolic (ED) volumes were significantly larger on CT than on MRI (93.6 ± 17.5 mL/m² vs. 87.3 ± 15.5 mL/m² for the left ventricle [p < 0.001] and 177.2 ± 39.5 mL/m² vs. 161.7 ± 33.1 mL/m² for the right ventricle [p < 0.001], respectively). The mean differences between CT and MRI were smaller for the indexed ES volumes (2.0-2.5 mL/m²) than for the indexed ED volumes (6.3-15.5 mL/m²). CT overestimated the stroke volumes by 14-16%. With phase-contrast MRI as a reference, CT (7.2-14.3 mL/m²) showed greater mean differences in the indexed stroke volumes than did MRI (0.8-3.3 mL/m²; p < 0.005). Conclusion: Compared to 2D MRI, CT ventricular volumetry using semiautomatic 3D threshold-based segmentation provides comparable ES volumes, but overestimates the ED and stroke volumes in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.229-232
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• 2012

This study examined the correlation between MR cine and myocardium Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) by comparing the measured cardiac ejection fractions. The usefulness of cardiac MRI was also evaluated. Ten patients (8 men, 2 women and average age of 58.6 years), who underwent a myocardium SPECT scan and cardiac cine MRI scan among patients who visited the hospital for the chief complaint of cardiac disorder from June 1, 2010 to February 10, 2011, were enrolled in this study. The cardiac ejection fraction was calculated from the images obtained in both scans. The data was used to examine the correlation. The regression equation the cardiac ejection fraction values of the 10 patients obtained in myocardium SPECT and MRI cine was Y = 1.12X-8.91 ($R^2$ = 0.78, significance of F = 0.001639, and confidence level of 95%). The results were significant when the cardiac ejection fraction obtained from MRI cine was compared with that obtained from myocardium SPECT. Overall, a cardiac examination using MRI enables an investigation of not only the ejection fraction but also the ED and ES volumes, stroke volume, wall thickness, and wall thickening in a higher spatial resolution despite the examination being conducted once. This examination is believed to be very useful for diagnosing patients with cardiac disease.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2007

The obstacles for cardiac imaging are motion artifacts due to cardiac motion, respiration, and blood flow, and low signal due to small tissue volume of heart. To overcome these obstacles, fast imaging technique with ECG gating is utilized. Cardiac exam using MRI comprises of morphology, ventricular function, myocardial perfusion, metabolism, and coronary artery morphology. During cardiac morphology evaluation, double and triple inversion recovery techniques are used to depict myocardial fluidity and soft tissue structure such as fat tissue, respectively. By checking the first-pass enhancement of myocardium using contrast-enhanced fast gradient echo technique, myocardial blood flow can be evaluated. In addition, delayed imaging in 10 - 15 minutes can inform myocardial destruction such as chronic myocardial infarction. Ventricular function including regional and global wall motion can be checked by fast gradient echo cine imaging in quantitative way. MRI is acknowledged to be practical for integrated cardiac evaluation technique except coronary angiography. Especially delay imaging is the greatest merit of MRI in myocardial viability evaluation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.56-62
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• 2000

In this paper, an automatic extraction of the blood flow contour from cardiac MRI is proposed. By using the GVF snake which has wider capture range than the conventional snake, and by automatically generating the initial points along the outside of the contour of the zero GVF field in the edge image of the cardiac MRI, the blood flow contour can be automatically extracted, even when the contours have boundary concavities due to the papillary muscles, without any manual initialization of the experts. Experiments are conducted on the various real cardiac MRIs including noise and papillary muscles, and the proposed method is proved to be efficient in automatic extraction of the blood contours even if they have the boundary concavities.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.121-131
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• 2001

Echocardiography and catheterization angiography suffer certain limitations in the evaluation of congenital heart diseases in adults, though these are overcome by MRI, in which a wide field-of view, unlimited multiplanar imaging capability and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography techniques are used. In adults, recently introduced fast imaging techniques provide cardiac MR images of sufficient quality and with less artifacts. Ventricular volume, ejection fraction, and vascular flow measurements, including pressure gradients and pulmonary-to-systemic flow ratio, can be calculated or obtained using fast cine MRI, phase-contrast MR flow-velocity mapping, and semiautomatic analysis software. MRI is superior to echocardiography in diagnosing partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection, unroofed coronary sinus, anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, aorta and systemic veins, complex heart diseases, and postsurgical sequelae. Biventricular function is reliably evaluated with cine MRI after repair of tetralogy of Fallot, and Senning's and Mustard's operations. MRI has an important and growing role in the morphologic and functional assessment of congenital heart diseases in adolescents and adults.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.289-294
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences of ejection fraction of left ventricle through the quantitative analysis of diastolic and systolic volumes according to slices selected using cardiac MR imaging. A total of 12 volunteers (7 normal, 1 myocardium bridge, and 4 arrhythmia) underwent cardiac MRI on a MR scanner(Magnetom Trio, Siemens, Germany). Ejection fractions for quantitative analysis were calculated at single slice of center of left ventricle, 3, 5, and 6-7 slices extending from the center of left ventricle. Average values were analyzed for evaluating differences of ejection fraction according to the number of slices selected. Mean value of normal person of ejection fraction were 67.14% at single slice of center of left ventricle, 66.24% at 3 slices, 65.63% at 5 slices, and 65.29% at 6-7 slices. While ejection fraction obtained from a patient with 61.74% at single slice of center of left ventricle, 60.92% at 3 slices, 60.89% at 5 slices, and 61.89% at 6-7 slices. There was no significant differences by the number of slices selected. This study demonstrates that ejection fraction obtained from single slice of center of left ventricle may represent a optimum parameter for cardiac function, instead of the value calculated on the variable slices selected.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.114-125
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• 2019

Objective: Segmented cardiac cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard for cardiac ventricular volumetric assessment. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, this technique may generate images with inadequate quality for diagnosis. Real-time cardiac cine MRI has been developed to address this limitation. We aimed to assess the performance of retrospective electrocardiography-gated real-time cine MRI at 3T for left ventricular (LV) volume and mass measurement. Materials and Methods: Fifty-one patients were consecutively enrolled. A series of short-axis cine images covering the entire left ventricle using both segmented and real-time balanced steady-state free precession cardiac cine MRI were obtained. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), and LV mass were measured. The agreement and correlation of the parameters were assessed. Additionally, image quality was evaluated using European CMR Registry (Euro-CMR) score and structure visibility rating. Results: In patients without difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, no significant difference was found in Euro-CMR score between the two techniques (0.3 ± 0.7 vs. 0.3 ± 0.5, p > 0.05). Good agreements and correlations were found between the techniques for measuring EDV, ESV, EF, SV, and LV mass. In patients with difficulty in breath-holding or arrhythmia, segmented cine MRI had a significant higher Euro-CMR score (2.3 ± 1.2 vs. 0.4 ± 0.5, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Real-time cine MRI at 3T allowed the assessment of LV volume with high accuracy and showed a significantly better image quality compared to that of segmented cine MRI in patients with difficulty in breath-holding and arrhythmia.