Regional Quantification of Myocardial Stiffness using MR Elastography

Arunark Kolipaka¹, Kiaran McGee¹, Shivani Aggarwal¹, Qingshan Chen¹, Nandan Anavekar¹, Armando Manduca¹, Richard Ehman¹, Philip Araoz¹

The mechanical properties of the myocardium are known to be essential for normal cardiac function. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a noninvasive phase contrast technique to estimate stiffness of soft tissues. The purpose of this study was to regionally quantitate effective stiffness in infarcted and remote, non-infarcted myocardium using MRE. Post 3 weeks of induced infarction on 13 pigs, MRE and mechanical testing was performed. We found significant difference in stiffness estimates between infarcted and remote, non-infarcted myocardium both using MRE and mechanical testing.