Influence of the short-axis cine acquisition protocol on the cardiac function evaluation: A reproducibility study

•Evaluate several scan protocols for cardiac MRI analysis.•Assess inter and intra observer variability for the selection of the best protocol.•Consistency in the scan protocol is essential for study comparison.•For biventricular studies, short-axis slices should be perpendicular to septum.

PurposeTo define the optimal cardiac short-axis cine acquisition protocol for the assessment of the left and rightventricular functions.Materials and methods20 volunteers were recruited and breath-hold CINE images were acquired on a Siemens Prisma 3T MRI. Four short-axis acquisition planes were defined from the 4-chamber view. AV Junctions: short-axis slices parallel to the plane that cuts through the external right and left atrioventricular junctions. Left AV Junctions: short-axis slices parallel to the plane that cuts through both left atrioventricular junctions. Septum: short-axis slices perpendicular to the septum with one cutting through the septum junction. LongAxis: short-axis slices perpendicular to the long axis with one cutting through the septum junction. Intra and inter reproducibility was assessed using Bland-Altman coefficient of variation (CV) and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). The influence of the protocol on the ejection fraction (EF) and stroke volume (SV) was quantified statistically using pair-wise CV and Pearson’s correlation coefficient R2.ResultsAll protocols led to high reproducibility for the LV EF (mean intra CV = 3.83%, mean inter CV = 4.81%, lowest CV = 4.20% (AV junctions) and highest CV = 5.24% (Left AV Junctions)). Reproducibility of the RV measurements was lower (mean intra CV = 7.84%, mean inter CV = 9.17%). Septum protocol led to significantly lower variability compared to the other 3 protocols for RV EF (CV = 7.62% (Septum), CV = 8.42% (Long Axis), CV = 9.54% (Left AV Junctions) and CV = 11.08% (AV Junctions) with Lin’s CCC varying from 0.4 (AV Junctions) to 0.69 (Septum) for inter-observer reproducibility). No differences in group average for clinical parameters was found for both LV and RV clinical measurements. However, patient-specific RV EF evaluation is dependent on the chosen protocol (CV = 9.95%, R2 = 0.52).ConclusionBased on the results of the study cine mode short-axis acquisitions should be planned perpendicular to the septum in order to guarantee optimal RV and LV measurements.