A comparative analysis of myocardial strain and strain rate in cardiac computed tomography and magnetic resonance feature tracking.

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the feasibility of feature tracking cardiac computed tomography (CCT)-derived LV global and regional strain and its agreement with feature tracking cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived measurements.

Methods: CMR images and CCT images were acquired from 15 adult patients (50% women, mean age: 65 ± 9 years). Cardiac LV global and segmental circumferential and longitudinal strain and strain rate were assessed on CCT and CMR using feature tracking (FT) technology. Agreement between the measurements from two different modalities was evaluated using Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

Results: Strain/strain rate analysis could be accomplished in every subject with both techniques. Agreement between CMR-FT and CCT-FT was strong for global circumferential strain (ICC > 0.75), while other global strain features displayed moderate inter-technique correlation (ICC > 0.50). On Bland-Altman analysis, strain analysis derived from CCT-FT showed a lower measurement of LV global longitudinal strain and strain rate in comparison with CMR-FT (mean difference: 5.32% and 0.71 s^-1, respectively). Additionally, reproducibility of segmental strain was better for myocardial and endocardial than epicardial walls.

Conclusions: CCT-FT is a feasible technique, with good agreement with analogous CMR-FT-derived parameters, especially for global measurements, and could be an acceptable alternative for strain assessment.