Transmural heterogeneity of microstructural remodeling in pacing induced heart failure measured by diffusion tensor MRI

Background Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) enables 3D evaluation of whole heart microstructure. DT invariants evaluate microstructural remodeling by quantifying trace (increases with decreasing cellularity), fractional anisotropy (FA, decreases with increasing fibrosis), and tissue mode (decreases with increasing fiber disarray) [1]. We have shown that DT invariant data identifies significant global microstructural remodeling (increase in trace and decrease in FA) in the pacing induced heart failure (HF) model [2]. The objective of this study was to quantify transmural microstructural remodeling between normal and HF myocardium using DT invariants.