Abstract #2432

MR Elastography as a Method to Determine the Mechanical Properties of Fresh and Formalin Fixed Porcine Hearts

Ria Mazumder¹, Bradley Dean Clymer¹, Richard White²,³, Arunark Kolipaka²,³

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; ²Deparment of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; ³Deptarment of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States

Formalin fixed hearts have been actively used in research to study mechanical properties such as stiffness of left ventricular (LV) myocardium. However, the stiffness of the fresh hearts greatly differs from that of the formalin fixed hearts. Mechanical testing has been the gold standard to determine the stiffness of the myocardium. In this study MR Elastography is used to compare the stiffness of LV myocardium between fresh and formalin fixed hearts within the same animal specimen. We have observed that formalin fixed hearts are significantly stiffer than the fresh hearts.