Constantin von Deuster1,2, Eva Sammut1, Christian T. Stoeck1,2, Reza Razavi1, and Sebastian Kozerke1,2
1Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
In vivo
cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was employed to study dynamic alterations
of myocardial microstructure in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) relative
to healthy controls using dual-phase cardiac DTI. A reduction in dynamic change
of fiber orientation between diastole and systole compared to the controls was observed.
Steeper
diastolic helix angles in DCM patients relative to controls were associated
with a larger pre-stretch of the left ventricle. It is speculated that this
larger pre-stretch alongside with reduced myocyte shortening compromises the
ability to dynamically reorient fiber aggregates during systolic contraction.
