Is High Temporal Resolution Achievable for Paediatric Cardiac Acquisitions during Several Heart Beats? Illustration with Cardiac Phase Contrast Cine-MRI

BACKGROUND: During paediatric cardiac Cine-MRI, data acquired during cycles of different lengths must be combined. Most of the time, Feinstein’s model is used to project multiple cardiac cycles of variable lengths into a mean cycle. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of Feinstein projection on temporal resolution of Cine-MRI. METHODS: 1/The temporal errors during Feinstein’s projection were computed in 306 cardiac cycles fully characterized by tissue Doppler imaging with 6-phase analysis (from a population of 7 children and young adults). 2/The effects of these temporal errors on tissue velocities were assessed by simulating typical tissue phase mapping acquisitions and reconstructions. 3/Myocardial velocities curves, extracted from high-resolution phase-contrast cine images, were compared for the 6 volunteers with lowest and highest heart rate variability, within a population of 36 young adults. RESULTS: 1/The mean of temporal misalignments was 30 ms over the cardiac cycle but reached 60 ms during early diastole. 2/During phase contrast MRI simulation, early diastole velocity peaks were diminished by 6.1 cm/s leading to virtual disappearance of isovolumic relaxation peaks. 3/The smoothing and erasing of isovolumic relaxation peaks was confirmed on tissue phase mapping velocity curves, between subjects with low and high heart rate variability (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Feinstein cardiac model creates temporal misalignments that impair high temporal resolution phase contrast cine imaging when beat-to-beat heart rate is changing.