Ventricular function assessment using an ultrafast spoiled gradient echo sequence with an intravascular blood pool contrast agent in pediatric patients

Tayaba Miah, Rithvik Gunda, Gerald Greil, Mohammad Hussain, Qing Zou

Abstract

Balanced steady-state free processing (bSSFP) MR sequence has long been considered the gold standard method for ventricular function assessment (VFA), and normal values are based on this acquisition. However, bSSFP sequence suffers from susceptibility artifacts due to scenarios such as cardiac implants.

Introduction

Cardiac MRI is considered the golden standard for ventricular function assessment (VFA) [1] as it is both highly reproducible and accurate in its definitions of endocardial and epicardial borders. VFA is critical in diagnosing and managing patients with different types of acquired and congenital heart diseases [2].

Methods

The study population consisted of 37 pediatric patients (aging from 5 months old to 21 years old, average age 10.4 years old and standard deviation 6.9; 26 males and 11 females; 19 single ventricle patients).

Results

First, the cine images from both sequences were compared visually. The images from both settings demonstrated reasonable image contrast and resolution, facilitating adequate segmentation.

Discussion

In this study, we proposed that VFA can be accurately conducted using an ultrafast spoiled gradient echo sequence (T1-TFE) with the intravascular blood pool contrast agent, Ferumoxytol, in a group of pediatric patients.

Conclusion

This study investigated if ventricular function assessment could be effectively done using an ultrafast spoiled gradient echo sequence with an intravascular blood pool contrast agent.

Citation: Miah T, Gunda R, Greil G, Hussain M, Zou Q (2025) Ventricular function assessment using an ultrafast spoiled gradient echo sequence with an intravascular blood pool contrast agent in pediatric patients. PLoS ONE 20(1): e0318299. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318299

Editor: Lorenzo Faggioni, University of Pisa, ITALY

Received: September 13, 2024; Accepted: January 13, 2025; Published: January 31, 2025

Copyright: © 2025 Miah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: Due to data protection reasons, the authors cannot publish the data publicly. The Institutional Review Boards of UT Southwestern Medical Center advised against the publication of the study's underlying dataset publicly. The data are available upon request to interested and qualified researchers. Data requests may be sent to the Director of the Institutional Review Boards of UT Southwestern Medical Center, Meyad Bird, at meyad.bird@utsouthwestern.edu.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

 

Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0318299#abstract0