First pass perfusion assessment
The development of myocardial perfusion imaging has extended the role of CMR in the evaluation of ischaemic heart disease beyond the situations where there have already been gross myocardial changes such as acute infarction or scarring. For prognostic evaluation of patients with suspected coronary artery disease and monitoring the efficacy of interventional measures, myocardial perfusion imaging plays an important role in establishing the ischemic burden and viability of ischaemic myocardium. Differentiation of ischaemic but viable myocardium from infarcted regions requires detailed quantitative assessment and modelling of myocardial perfusion characteristics.
PerfusionTools is a CMRtools plug-in for first pass myocardial perfusion imaging. It uses a model-based approach for Gd-DTPA tracer kinetic modelling with Fermi deconvolution. The software allows multi-slice perfusion quantification based on rest/stress acquisitions for deriving detailed per-segment myocardial perfusion indices. PerfusionTools also employs an automated in-plane motion correction method that significantly simplifies multi-slice, multi-segment perfusion quantification.
The main features of the package include:
-
Automatic and manual in-plane respiratory motion correction
-
Epicardial and Endocardial border delineation
-
Multi-segmental analysis of perfusion indices
-
Analysis of transmural or subendocardial and subepicardial perfusion parameters
-
Definition of arterial input function (AIF) with either single bolus and double bolus based image acquisitions
-
Comprehensive, navigatable bull's-eye perfusion visualization
-
Fully recorded analysis session for providing comprehensive audit trails
Other plug-ins for CMRtools include VentricularTools for analysing the left and right ventricles, ModellingTools for constructing detailed cardiovascular models, ThalassaemiaTools for T2* assessment for the heart and liver, and 3Dtools for real-time 3D image visualisation. The software is designed to run on standard PCs including laptops running Microsoft Windows.
The current version of CMRtools and its plug-ins
ThalassaemiaTools, VentricularTools, LVtools, LateEnhancementTools,
3Dtools and PerfusionTools is intended for use as an investigational
device for cardiac research only and must not be used for clinical
diagnosis in the United States. A 510(k) application is being made to
the FDA for CMRtools and its plug-ins VentricularTools and
ThalassaemiaTools.
|