Delphine Perie1, Anthony Foudis1, Gilles Beaudoin2, Guillaume Gilbert3, Nagib Dahdah4, Daniel Curnier5
1Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 2Physics and Biomedical Engineering, CHUM Hopital Saint-Luc, Montreal, quebec, Canada; 3MR Clinical Science, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, United States; 4Cardiology, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 5Kinesiology, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The long-term objective is to develop a sensitive and non-invasive technique allowing the early detection and the follow-up of the changes occurring within the mechanical properties of cardiac tissues with cardiomyopathy. We hypothesized that a relationship exists between mechanical properties and MR parameters of cardiac tissues. Porcine hearts were submitted to a quantitative MRI acquisition followed by a tensile test until rupture. The significant relationship found between the Youngs modulus and the MRI parameters T1, FA and ADC is the basis for the development of an indirect tool for the in vivo evaluation of the mechanical properties of cardiac tissues. Kriging is a powerful tool that optimizes theses relationships.