Abstract #1308

Cardiac MR Elastography Reveals Increased Stiffness of the Left Ventricular Myocardium in Age & Pathology.

Thomas Elgeti¹, Mark Beling², Sebastian Hirsch¹, Bernd Hamm¹, Jrgen Braun³, Ingolf Sack¹

¹Department of Radiology, Charit Universittsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; ²Department of Cardiology, Angiology, Pulmonology, Charit Universittsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; ³Institute of Medical Informatics, Charit Universittsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

MR Elastography (MRE) relies on excitation and measurement of shear-waves in soft tissue. Cardiac MRE was performed in 4 groups: young and old healthy volunteers and patients with mild and severe diastolic dysfunction. Several elasticity-based parameters were measured. In diastolic dysfunction the amplitudes of externally induced shear waves were lower than in healthy controls. Furthermore, elasticity determined cardiac time intervals were altered similar to echocardiographic derived time intervals. Cardiac MRE allows measuring elasticity parameters of the left ventricular myocardium associated with physiological aging and relaxation abnormalities.