Choukri Mekkaoui1, Shuning Huang1,
Guangping Dai1, Timothy G. Reese1, Udo Hoffmann2,
Marcel P. Jackowski3, David Sosnovik4
1Radiology, Harvard Medical
School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Martinos Center For Biomedical
Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States; 2Radiology, Massachusetts
General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States; 3Computer
Science, University of So Paulo, Institute of Mathematics & Statistics,
So Paulo, Brazil; 4Cardiology, Harvard Medical School,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Martinos Center For Biomedical Imaging,
Charlestown, MA, United States
The normal angle between adjacent eigenvectors along myofiber tracts remains unknown. We term this angle the tractographic propagation angle (PA). Consequently, the correct upper limit or threshold angle to use in tractographic reconstructions of the myocardium remains unknown. Here we characterize the propagation angle (PA) in vivo in normal and ex vivo in infarcted hearts. We show that PA is homogenous and low (2-4 degrees) in normal myocardium. In infarcted myocardium, PA rises dramatically and has the potential to facilitate the robust detection of myocardial infarcts.
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