Regional Evaluation of Left Ventricular Cardiac Diffusion Tensor Imaging Metrics in Healthy Volunteers

Motivation: cDTI is a useful method for evaluating cardiac microstructure with proven clinical utility. To better enable the use of cDTI in the diagnosis of various cardiomyopathies, establishing quantitative baseline values in healthy subjects is needed. Goal(s): Goal: To quantify healthy baseline cDTI metrics on a regional basis to understand normal regional differences in cDTI metrics. Approach: Healthy volunteers received a cDTI exam covering the entire LV. Regional and global analyses of cDTI metrics were completed using the AHA 16-segment model. Results: Statistically significant regional differences were found across all parametric maps, with the majority of them in basal segments. Impact: Characterizing regional differences in cDTI measures provides data to define healthy baseline values for several cDTI metrics. Defining this baseline regionally provides a normative database for understanding patient-specific changes in these quantitative diffusion metrics.