T. Stan Gregory1, Ehud Schmidt2, John Oshinski3, and Zion Tsz Ho Tse1
1College of Engineering, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States, 2Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, 3Radiology, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, United States
Synopsis
Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) is increasingly becoming the preferred diagnostic and
interventional imaging modality for a variety of diseases. Despite the increasing clinical merit,
practical implementation of these procedures in the clinic is oftentimes
limited due to the high risk associated with these patient groups and the
subsequent need for advanced physiological monitoring for each patient to be
cleared for MRI imaging and interventional workflows. The presented method
for beat-to-beat SV and continuous aortic flow monitoring within the MRI bore
based on Magnetohydrodynamic Voltages (VMHD) induced onto 12-lead
Electrocardiograms (ECG), enables MR imaging and MRI-guided interventional
procedures for these patients. Purpose
To develop a technique to non-invasively
estimate Stroke Volume (SV) in real-time during Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI) clinical workflows and guided interventional procedures using induced
Magnetohydrodynamic Voltages (VMHD). VMHD
overlays occur on Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings during MRI exams, induced
due to interactions between been aortic blood flow (BF) and the strong static
magnetic field of the MRI scanner (B
0) (Fig. 1a) [1]. As a result, VMHD can potentially be used to
assess the volume of blood ejected into the aortic arch during each cardiac
cycle, providing a beat-to-beat SV estimate while allowing the MRI scanner to
perform other imaging tasks. As an
alternative to current low-fidelity intra-MRI physiological monitoring
techniques, the estimation of VMHD-derived SV would allow for continuous high-fidelity
physiological monitoring during MRI workflows and interventional procedures. We hypothesize that from ECG vector-decomposition
of the VMHD signal, and subject-specific calibration using a CINE Phase
Contrast MRI (PCMR) pre-scan, a VMHD-derived estimate of beat-to-beat SV can be
derived for each subject and used to continually assess SV, even during induced
stress, leaving the MRI free to perform diagnostic or interventional imaging.
Methods
In order to derive a subject-specific model of
VMHD-derived SV, a PCMR pre-scan of the ascending aorta (30 frames) was
performed in 7 healthy subjects (n=7) and two subjects diagnosed with Premature
Ventricular Contractions (PVC) (n=2) in a Siemens Trio 3T MRI. 12-lead ECG recordings were acquired from
each subject during this calibration phase using an MRI-compatible 12-Lead ECG
recording system similar to [2-3]. VMHD
voltages at each electrode were extracted through the subtraction of ECGs
obtained with the subjects outside and inside the MRI [2]. An inverse Dower
transform was used to convert the VMHD traces into a Vectorcardiogram (VCG)
frame of reference [4], consisting of three spatial (X, Y, Z) components. Using
MRI-derived flow information taken during the PCMR pre-scan, a multiple linear
regression (MLR) model (Fig. 1b) was developed individually for each subject,
using subject -specific coefficients, to correlate VMHD(t) to blood
flow as a function of time. Integration
of this derived blood flow was then used to estimate beat-to-beat SV. This process was similarly performed in the
subjects diagnosed with PVCs (Fig. 1c) to determine efficacy in arrhythmic beat
detection. Following the initial
calibration, validation of the equation of fit was performed through Real-Time PCMR
(RTPC) scans of each subject to compare VMHD(t)- and MRI-derived SV during a 15 minute cardiac
exercise stress test with a 30 minute relaxation period after induced stress. Bland Altman analysis was performed to assess
the clinical relevance of results obtained
through exercise stress testing and quantify the bias of the measurements.
Results
Subject-specific equations were derived to
correlate VMHD(t) to BF at rest, and
validated using RTPC. An average error
of 7.22% and 3.69% in SV estimation, respectively, was found during peak
stress, and after complete relaxation.
Measured beat-to-beat blood flow time-history derived from RTPC and VMHD
were highly correlated using a Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient during
stress tests (0.89) and after stress relaxation (=0.86). VMHD-derived
arrhythmic beats were detected in the PVC subjects, and an 18.8% decrease in SV
was observed during arrhythmic beats as compared to normal beats (Fig. 1d). From the results in a Bland-Altman analysis
(Fig. 1e-f), taken from subjects in each stage of exercise stress testing, it is
observed that the variability does not appear in a clear trend, and the error
is not necessarily dependent on the average.
The mean bias line calculated from SV estimation yields a value of 3.3
mL, with an average error of 6.71% calculated from the mean difference and the
limits of agreement, a comparable error to those observed in conventional
methods used in clinical practice.
Conclusion
Accurate
beat-to-beat SV estimates were obtained from induced VMHD extracted from
12-lead ECGs recorded and calibrated using PCMR-derived subject specific MLR
parameters inside the MRI. This method provides
a means for enhanced physiological monitoring during MR imaging and
interventional procedures.
Acknowledgements
No acknowledgement found.References
[1] Gupta, IEEETransBioMedEng.
2008. [2] Tse, MRM 2013. [3] Gregory,
MRM 2014. [4] Dower, JElectroCardiol, 1984.