Distribution pattern of left-ventricular myocardial strain analyzed by a cine MRI based deformation registration algorithm in healthy Chinese volunteers

The cine magnetic resonance imaging based technique feature tracking-cardiac magnetic resonance (FT-CMR) is emerging as a novel, simple and robust method to evaluate myocardial strain. We investigated the distribution characteristics of left-ventricular myocardial strain using a novel cine MRI based deformation registration algorithm (DRA) in a cohort of healthy Chinese subjects. A total of 130 healthy Chinese subjects were enrolled. Three components of orthogonal strain (radial, circumferential, longitudinal) of the left ventricle were analyzed using DRA on steady-state free precession cine sequence images. A distinct transmural circumferential strain gradient was observed in the left ventricle that showed universal increment from the epicardial to endocardial myocardial wall (epiwall: −15.4 ± 1.9%; midwall: −18.8 ± 2.0%; endowall: −22.3 ± 2.3%, P < 0.001). Longitudinal strain showed a similar trend from epicardial to endocardial layers (epiwall: −16.0 ± 2.9%; midwall: −15.6 ± 2.7%; endowall: −14.8 ± 2.4%, P < 0.001), but radial strain had a very heterogeneous distribution and variation. In the longitudinal direction from the base to the apex of the left ventricle, there was a trend of decreasing peak systolic longitudinal strain (basal: −23.3 ± 4.6%; mid: −13.7 ± 7.3%; apical: −13.2 ± 5.5%; P < 0.001). In conclusion, there are distinct distribution patterns of circumferential and longitudinal strain within the left ventricle in healthy Chinese subjects. These distribution patterns of strain may provide unique profiles for further study in different types of myocardial disease.