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Introduction: 3D water-fat separated LGE imaging is a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging technique allowing simultaneous assessment of and discrimination between cardiac fibrosis and myocardial fatty infiltration. The aim of this study is to systematically analyze the image quality of a 3D water-fat separated LGE research sequence and identify confounders of image quality., Methods: In total 126 patients and 12 healthy volunteers were included. Patients were included with inflammatory bowel disease (n=35), muscular dystrophy (n=38), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n=23) and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (n=30). 3D water-fat separated LGE images were acquired at 1.5T (n=122) or 3T (n=16). Image quality was subjectively rated (4-point Likert scale) in six categories (overall image quality, blood-myocardium border sharpness, LGE-remote/healthy myocardium border sharpness, fat suppression, myocardial nulling, anatomical structures), additionally the contrast ratio was calculated. Cardiac function, acquisition conditions, and demographic data were investigated as potential confounders for image quality and contrast ratio., Results: Fat suppression had the highest quality score (2.54 ± 0.72), followed by anatomical structures (2.11 ± 0.94) and myocardial nulling (2.01 ± 0.78). In total, 18 parameters showed a significant correlation with multiple image quality categories, most of which related to cardiac function, such as the cardiac index, which significantly correlated with overall image quality (Wald Chi-squared=4.35; p<0.05), LGE-remote/healthy myocardium border sharpness (Wald Chi-squared=5.03; p<0.05), and anatomical structures (Wald Chi-square=16.00; p<0.001). Left ventricular mass index to height showed significant correlation with overall image quality (Wald Chi-squared=7.57; p<0.01), blood-myocardium border sharpness (Wald Chi-squared=7.35; p<0.01), and contrast ratio (Wald Chi-squared=5.50; p<0.05). Furthermore, demographic parameters, such as body mass index (BMI), were identified as significant confounders, showing a notable correlation between BMI and the depiction of anatomical structures. (Wald Chi-square=11.14; p<0.01)., Conclusion: In this study, 3D water-fat separated LGE imaging shows satisfying image quality, especially for fat separation. However, image quality may be affected by several surrounding parameters such as patient obesity, high myocardial mass, and cardiac function., Trial Registration: 3000339., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The working group has a research contract with Siemens Healthineers, Michaela Schmidt and Karl Philipp Kunze are employees of Siemens Healthineers. Leo Dyke Krüger holds the Kaltenbach-Scholarship for doctoral students issued by Deutsche Herzstiftung. Thomas Hadler holds a grant from BIOQIC, (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance enables the quantification of functional and morphological parameters with an impact on therapeutical decision making. While quantitative assessment is established in 2D, novel 3D techniques lack a standardized approach. Multi-planar-reformatting functionality in available software relies on visual matching location and often lacks necessary functionalities for further post-processing. Therefore, the easy-to-use Reslice3Dto2D software tool was developed as part of another research project to fill this gap and is now introduced with this work., Results: The Reslice3Dto2D reformats 3D data at the exact location of a reference slice with a two-step-based interpolation in order to reflect in-plane discretization and through-plane slice thickness including a slice profile selection. The tool was successfully validated on an artificial dataset and tested on 119 subjects with different underlying pathologies. The exported reformatted data could be imported into three different post-processing software tools. The quantified image sharpness by the Frequency Domain Image Blur Measure was significantly decreased by around 40% on rectangular slice profiles with 7 mm slice thickness compared to 0 mm due to partial volume effects. Consequently, Reslice3Dto2D enables the quantification of 3D data with conventional post-processing tools as well as the comparison of 3D acquisitions with their established 2D version., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Active inflammatory bowel disease (A-IBD) but not remission (R-IBD) has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure., Objectives: Using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), this study aims to assess adverse myocardial remodeling in patients with IBD in correlation with disease activity., Methods: Forty-four IBD patients without cardiovascular disease (24 female, median-age: 39.5 years, 26 A-IBD, 18 R-IBD) and 44 matched healthy volunteers (HV) were prospectively enrolled. The disease stage was determined by endoscopic and patient-reported criteria. Participants underwent CMR for cardiac phenotyping: cine imaging and strain analysis were performed to assess ventricular function. T1 mapping, extracellular volume and late-gadolinium enhanced images were obtained to assess focal and diffuse myocardial fibrosis. Simultaneous T1 and T2 elevation (T1 > 1049.3 ms, T2 > 54 ms) was considered to indicate a myocardial segment was inflamed., Results: 16/44 (16.4%) IBD patients described dyspnea on exertion and 10/44 (22.7%) reported chest pain. A-IBD patients showed impaired ventricular function, indicated by reduced global circumferential and radial strain despite preserved left-ventricular ejection fraction. 16% of all IBD patients had focal fibrosis in a non-ischemic pattern. A-IDB patients had increased markers of diffuse left ventricular fibrosis (T1-values: A-IBD: 1022.0 ± 34.83 ms, R-IBD: 1010.10 ± 32.88 ms, HV: 990.61 ± 29.35 ms, p < .01). Significantly more participants with A-IDB (8/26, 30.8%) had at least one inflamed myocardial segment than patients in remission (0/18) and HV (1/44, 2.3%, p < .01). Markers of diffuse fibrosis correlated with disease activity., Conclusion: This study, using CMR, provides evidence of myocardial involvement and patterns of adverse left ventricular remodeling in patients with IBD., Clinical Trial Registration: ISRCTN30941346., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background and Objectives: Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) imaging is a growing field with increasing diagnostic utility in clinical routine. Quantitative diagnostic parameters are typically calculated based on contours or points provided by readers, e.g. natural intelligences (NI) such as clinicians or researchers, and artificial intelligences (AI). As clinical applications multiply, evaluating the precision and reproducibility of quantitative parameters becomes increasingly important. Although segmentation challenges for AIs and guidelines for clinicians provide quality assessments and regulation, the methods ought to be combined and streamlined for clinical applications. The goal of the developed software, Lazy Luna (LL), is to offer a flexible evaluation tool that is readily extendible to new sequences and scientific endeavours., Methods: An interface was designed for LL, which allows for comparing annotated CMR images. Geometric objects ensure precise calculations of metric values and clinical results regardless of whether annotations originate from AIs or NIs. A graphical user interface (GUI) is provided to make the software available to non-programmers. The GUI allows for an interactive inspection of image datasets as well as implementing tracing procedures, which follow statistical reader differences in clinical results to their origins in individual image contours. The backend software builds on a set of meta-classes, which can be extended to new imaging sequences and clinical parameters. Following an agile development procedure with clinical feedback allows for a quick implementation of new classes, figures and tables for evaluation., Results: Two application cases present LL's extendibility to clinical evaluation and AI development contexts. The first concerns T1 parametric mapping images segmented by two expert readers. Quantitative result differences are traced to reveal typical segmentation dissimilarities from which these differences originate. The meta-classes are extended to this new application scenario. The second applies to the open source Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) quantification challenge for AI developers "Emidec", which illustrates LL's usability as open source software., Conclusion: The presented software Lazy Luna allows for an automated multilevel comparison of readers as well as identifying qualitative reasons for statistical reader differences. The open source software LL can be extended to new application cases in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The manual and often time-consuming segmentation of the myocardium in cardiovascular magnetic resonance is increasingly automated using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). This study proposes a cascaded segmentation (CASEG) approach to improve automatic image segmentation quality. First, an object detection algorithm predicts a bounding box (BB) for the left ventricular myocardium whose 1.5 times enlargement defines the region of interest (ROI). Then, the ROI image section is fed into a U-Net based segmentation. Two CASEG variants were evaluated: one using the ROI cropped image solely (cropU) and the other using a 2-channel-image additionally containing the original BB image section (crinU). Both were compared to a classical U-Net segmentation (refU). All networks share the same hyperparameters and were tested on basal and midventricular slices of native and contrast enhanced (CE) MOLLI T1 maps. Dice Similarity Coefficient improved significantly (p < 0.05) in cropU and crinU compared to refU (81.06%, 81.22%, 72.79% for native and 80.70%, 79.18%, 71.41% for CE data), while no significant improvement (p < 0.05) was achieved in the mean absolute error of the T1 time (11.94 ms, 12.45 ms, 14.22 ms for native and 5.32 ms, 6.07 ms, 5.89 ms for CE data). In conclusion, CASEG provides an improved geometric concordance but needs further improvement in the quantitative outcome., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The goal of this study was to evaluate a three-dimensional compressed sensing (3D-CS) LGE prototype sequence for the detection and quantification of myocardial fibrosis in patients with chronic myocardial infarction (CMI) and myocarditis (MYC) compared with a 2D-LGE standard. Patients with left-ventricular LGE due to CMI (n = 33) or MYC (n = 20) were prospectively recruited. 2D-LGE and 3D-CS images were acquired in random order at 1.5 Tesla. 3D-CS short axis (SAX) images were reconstructed corresponding to 2D SAX images. LGE was quantitatively assessed on patient and segment level using semi-automated threshold methods. Image quality (4-point scoring system), Contrast-ratio (CR) and acquisition times were compared. There was no significant difference between 2D and 3D sequences regarding global LGE (%) (CMI [2D-LGE: 11.4 ± 7.5; 3D-LGE: 11.5 ± 8.5; p = 0.99]; MYC [2D-LGE: 27.0 ± 15.7; 3D-LGE: 26.2 ± 13.1; p = 0.70]) and segmental LGE-extent (p = 0.63). 3D-CS identified papillary infarction in 5 cases which was not present in 2D images. 2D-LGE acquisition time was shorter (2D: median: 06:59 min [IQR: 05:51-08:18]; 3D: 14:48 min [12:45-16:57]). 3D-CS obtained better quality scores (2D: 2.06 ± 0.56 vs. 3D: 2.29 ± 0.61). CR did not differ (p = 0.63) between basal and apical regions in 3D-CS images but decreased significantly in 2D apical images (CR basal: 2D: 0.77 ± 0.11, 3D: 0.59 ± 0.10; CR apical: 2D: 0.64 ± 0.17, 3D: 0.53 ± 0.11). 3D-LGE shows high congruency with standard LGE and allows better identification of small lesions. However, the current 3D-CS LGE sequence did not provide PSIR reconstruction and acquisition time was longer., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Myocarditis-like findings after COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) infection and vaccination were reported by applying cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). These results are very heterogenous and dependent on several factors such as hospital admission or outpatient treatment, timing of CMR, and symptomatic load. This retrospective study aimed to identify differences in myocardial damage in patients with persistent symptoms both after COVID-19 infection and vaccine by applying CMR., Materials and Methods: This study entails a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients referred for CMR between August 2020 and November 2021 with persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection or vaccination. Patients were compared to healthy controls (HC). All patients underwent a CMR examination in a 1.5-T scanner with a scan protocol including: cine imaging for biventricular function and strain assessment using feature tracking, T2 mapping for the quantification of edema, and T1 mapping for diffuse fibrosis and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) for the detection and quantification of focal fibrosis. Patients were divided into a subacute COVID-19 (sCov) group with symptoms lasting < 12 weeks, post-COVID-19 (pCov) group with symptoms > 12 weeks, and patients after COVID-19 vaccination (CovVac)., Results: A total of 162 patients were recruited of whom 141 were included for analysis. The median age in years (interquartile range (IQR)) of the entire cohort was 45 (37-56) which included 83 women and 58 men. Subgroups were as follows (total patients per subgroup, median age in years (IQR), main gender): 34 sCov, 43 (37-52), 19 women; 63 pCov, 52 (39-58), 43 women; 44 CovVac, 43 (32-56), 23 men; 44 HC (41 (28-52), 24 women). The biventricular function was preserved and revealed no differences between the groups. No active inflammation was detected by T2 mapping. Global T1 values were higher in pCov in comparison with HC (median (IQR) in ms: pCov 1002ms (981-1023) vs. HC 987ms (963-1009; p = 0.005) with other parings revealing no differences. In 49/141 (34.6%) of patients, focal fibrosis was detectable with the majority having a non-ischemic pattern (43/141; 30.4%; patients) with the subgroups after infection having more often a subepicardial pattern compared with CovVac (total (% of group): sCov: 7/34(21%); pCov 13/63(21%); CovVac 2/44(5%); p = 0.04)., Conclusion: Patients after COVID-19 infection showed more focal fibrosis in comparison with patients after COVID-19 vaccination without alterations in the biventricular function., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gröschel, Bhoyroo, Blaszczyk, Trauzeddel, Viezzer, Saad, Fenski and Schulz-Menger.)

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard for cardiac function assessment. Quantification of clinical results (CR) requires precise segmentation. Clinicians statistically compare CRs to ensure reproducibility. Convolutional Neural Network developers compare their results via metrics. Aim: Introducing software capable of automatic multilevel comparison. A multilevel analysis covering segmentations and CRs builds on a generic software backend. Metrics and CRs are calculated with geometric accuracy. Segmentations and CRs are connected to track errors and their effects. An interactive GUI makes the software accessible to different users. The software's multilevel comparison was tested on a use case based on cardiac function assessment. The software shows good reader agreement in CRs and segmentation metrics (Dice > 90%). Decomposing differences by cardiac position revealed excellent agreement in midventricular slices: > 90% but poorer segmentations in apical (> 71%) and basal slices (> 74%). Further decomposition by contour type locates the largest millilitre differences in the basal right cavity (> 3 ml). Visual inspection shows these differences being caused by different basal slice choices. The software illuminated reader differences on several levels. Producing spreadsheets and figures concerning metric values and CR differences was automated. A multilevel reader comparison is feasible and extendable to other cardiac structures in the future., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

COVID-19 is associated with myocardial injury caused by ischemia, inflammation, or myocarditis. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the noninvasive reference standard for cardiac function, structure, and tissue composition. CMR is a potentially valuable diagnostic tool in patients with COVID-19 presenting with myocardial injury and evidence of cardiac dysfunction. Although COVID-19-related myocarditis is likely infrequent, COVID-19-related cardiovascular histopathology findings have been reported in up to 48% of patients, raising the concern for long-term myocardial injury. Studies to date report CMR abnormalities in 26% to 60% of hospitalized patients who have recovered from COVID-19, including functional impairment, myocardial tissue abnormalities, late gadolinium enhancement, or pericardial abnormalities. In athletes post-COVID-19, CMR has detected myocarditis-like abnormalities. In children, multisystem inflammatory syndrome may occur 2 to 6 weeks after infection; associated myocarditis and coronary artery aneurysms are evaluable by CMR. At this time, our understanding of COVID-19-related cardiovascular involvement is incomplete, and multiple studies are planned to evaluate patients with COVID-19 using CMR. In this review, we summarize existing studies of CMR for patients with COVID-19 and present ongoing research. We also provide recommendations for clinical use of CMR for patients with acute symptoms or who are recovering from COVID-19., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Petersen provides consultancy to and is a shareholder of Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, Inc, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dr Friedrich is board member, shareholder, and consultant of Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc. Dr Kramer is a consultant to Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr Nagel has received research support from Bayer AG, Neosoft, and Medis. Dr Pennell has received research support from Siemens. Dr Bluemke is a consultant to Bayer AG. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose. Dr Petersen has received support from the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Barts. Dr Ferreira receives support from the British Heart Foundation, British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, Oxford, and the National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Dr Raisi-Estabragh was supported by British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship number FS/17/81/33318., (Crown Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Following percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) for revascularisation of chronic total occlusions (CTO) patients are at increased risk for stent thrombosis (ST). Delayed drug-eluting stent (DES) coverage has previously been shown to be related to ST. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), we tested the hypothesis that CTO-PCI is associated with delayed DES coverage compared to non-CTO lesions., Methods and Results: From 06/2010 to 11/2013, 105 patients (111 lesions) with clinically driven follow-up angiography after PCI with DES received an OCT analysis. Patients with successful CTO-PCI (19 patients/20 lesions, 6.5±2.1 months post PCI) were included in the CTO group, and patients with non-CTO lesions and total stent length >24 mm (28 patients/28 lesions, 4.9±2.2 months post PCI) were used as a control group. Struts were analysed by OCT (CTO vs. control, mean±SD): covered: 68.9±21.9% vs. 89.6±10.4%, p<0.001; uncovered apposed: 20.2±16.2% vs. 7.5±8.7%, p=0.001; uncovered malapposed: 10.9±10.3% vs. 2.9±2.6%, p<0.001. Neointimal thickness was 92.0±61.2 m vs. 109.3±39.2 m, p=0.033. No differences concerning different CTO-PCI approaches were found., Conclusions: A significantly delayed DES coverage after CTO-PCI was observed. Given the known increased rate of ST following CTO-PCI and the known association between delayed DES coverage and ST, OCT may aid in determining the optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after CTO-PCI.