@article{HeroldHerzWinteretal.2017,
  author    = {Herold, Volker and Herz, Stefan and Winter, Patrick and Gutjahr, Fabian Tobias and Andelovic, Kristina and Bauer, Wolfgang Rudolf and Jakob, Peter Michael},
  title     = {Assessment of local pulse wave velocity distribution in mice using k-t BLAST PC-CMR with semi-automatic area segmentation.},
  series = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  volume    = {19},
  journal   = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  number    = {77},
  doi       = {10.1186/s12968-017-0382-2},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157696},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Background: Local aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a measure for vascular stiffness and has a predictive value for cardiovascular events. Ultra high field CMR scanners allow the quantification of local PWV in mice, however these systems are yet unable to monitor the distribution of local elasticities. Methods: In the present study we provide a new accelerated method to quantify local aortic PWV in mice with phase-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (PC-CMR) at 17.6 T. Based on a k-t BLAST (Broad-use Linear Acquisition Speed-up Technique) undersampling scheme, total measurement time could be reduced by a factor of 6. The fast data acquisition enables to quantify the local PWV at several locations along the aortic blood vessel based on the evaluation of local temporal changes in blood flow and vessel cross sectional area. To speed up post processing and to eliminate operator bias, we introduce a new semi-automatic segmentation algorithm to quantify cross-sectional areas of the aortic vessel. The new methods were applied in 10 eight-month-old mice (4 C57BL/6J-mice and 6 ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-mice) at 12 adjacent locations along the abdominal aorta. Results: Accelerated data acquisition and semi-automatic post-processing delivered reliable measures for the local PWV, similiar to those obtained with full data sampling and manual segmentation. No statistically significant differences of the mean values could be detected for the different measurement approaches. Mean PWV values were elevated for the ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-group compared to the C57BL/6J-group (3.5 ± 0.7 m/s vs. 2.2 ± 0.4 m/s, p < 0.01). A more heterogeneous PWV-distribution in the ApoE \(^{(-/-)}\)-animals could be observed compared to the C57BL/6J-mice, representing the local character of lesion development in atherosclerosis. Conclusion: In the present work, we showed that k-t BLAST PC-MRI enables the measurement of the local PWV distribution in the mouse aorta. The semi-automatic segmentation method based on PC-CMR data allowed rapid determination of local PWV. The findings of this study demonstrate the ability of the proposed methods to non-invasively quantify the spatial variations in local PWV along the aorta of ApoE\(^{(-/-)}\)-mice as a relevant model of atherosclerosis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Gutjahr2019,
  author    = {Gutjahr, Fabian Tobias},
  title     = {Neue Methoden der physiologischen Magnet-Resonanz-Tomographie: Modellbasierte T1-Messungen und Darstellung von chemischem Austausch mit positivem Kontrast},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-16106},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-161061},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, neue quantitative Messmethoden am Kleintier, insbesondere die Perfusionsmessung am M{\"a}useherz, zu etablieren. Hierf{\"u}r wurde eine retrospektiv getriggerte T1-Messmethode entwickelt. Da bei retrospektiven Methoden keine vollst{\"a}ndige Abtastung garantiert werden kann, wurde ein Verfahren gefunden, das mit Hilfe von Vorwissen {\"u}ber das gemessene Modell sehr effizient die fehlenden Daten interpolieren kann. Mit Hilfe dieser Technik werden dynamische T1-Messungen mit hoher r{\"a}umlicher und zeitlicher Aufl{\"o}sung m{\"o}glich. Dank der hohen Genauigkeit der T1-Messmethode l{\"a}sst sich diese f{\"u}r die nichtinvasive Perfusionsmessung am M{\"a}useherz mittels der FAIR-ASL-Technik nutzen. Da auf Grund der retrospektiven Triggerung Daten an allen Positionen im Herzzyklus akquiriert werden, konnten T1- und Perfusionskarten nach der Messung zu beliebigen Punkten im Herzzyklus rekonstruiert werden. Es bietet sich an, Techniken, die f{\"u}r die myokardiale Perfusion angewandt werden, auch f{\"u}r die Nierenperfusionsmessung zu verwenden, da die Niere in ihrer Rinde (Cortex) eine {\"a}hnlich hohe Perfusion aufweist wie das Myokard. Gleichzeitig f{\"u}hren Nierenerkrankungen oftmals zu schlechter Kontrastmittelvertr{\"a}glichkeit, da diese bei Niereninsuffizienz u.U. zu lange im K{\"o}rper verweilen und die Niere weiter sch{\"a}digen. Auch deshalb sind die kontrastmittelfreien Spin-Labeling-Methoden hier interessant. Die FAIR-ASL-Technik ist jedoch an M{\"a}usen in koronaler Ansicht f{\"u}r die Niere schlecht geeignet auf Grund des geringen Unterschieds zwischen dem markierten und dem Vergleichsexperiment. Als L{\"o}sung f{\"u}r dieses Problem wurde vorgeschlagen, die Markierungsschicht senkrecht zur Messschicht zu orientieren. Hiermit konnte die Sensitivit{\"a}t gesteigert und gleichzeitig die Variabilit{\"a}t der Methode deutlich verringert werden. Mit Hilfe von kontrastmittelgest{\"u}tzten Messungen konnten auch das regionale Blutvolumen und das Extrazellularvolumen bestimmt werden. In den letzten Jahren hat das Interesse an Extrazellularvolumenmessungen zugenommen, da das Extrazellularvolumen stellvertretend f{\"u}r diffuse Fibrose gemessen werden kann, die bis dahin nichtinvasiven Methoden nicht zug{\"a}nglich war. Die bisher in der Literatur verwendeten Quantifizierungsmethoden missachten den Einfluss, den das H{\"a}matokrit auf den ECV-Wert hat. Es wurde eine neue Korrektur vorgeschlagen, die allerdings zus{\"a}tzlich zur ECV-Messung auch eine RBV-Messung ben{\"o}tigt. Durch gleichzeitige Messung beider Volumenanteile konnte auch erstmals das Extrazellulare-Extravaskul{\"a}re-Volumen bestimmt werden. Eine g{\"a}nzlich andere kontrastmittelbasierte Methode in der MRT ist die Messung des chemischen Austauschs. Hierbei wirkt das Kontrastmittel nicht direkt beschleunigend auf die Relaxation, sondern der Effekt des Kontrastmittels wird gezielt durch HF-Pulse an- und ausgeschaltet. Durch den chemischen Austausch kann die Auswirkung der HF-Pulse akkumuliert werden. Bislang wurde bei solchen Messungen ein negativer Kontrast erzeugt, der ohne zus{\"a}tzliche Vergleichsmessungen schwer detektierbar war. Im letzten Teil dieser Arbeit konnte eine neue Methode zur Messung des chemischen Austauschs gezeigt werden, die entgegen der aus der Literatur bekannten Methoden nicht S{\"a}ttigung, sondern Anregung {\"u}bertr{\"a}gt. Diese {\"A}nderung erlaubt es, einen echten positiven chemischen Austausch-Kontrast zu erzeugen, der nicht zwingend ein Vergleichsbild ben{\"o}tigt. Gleichzeitig erm{\"o}glicht die Technik, dadurch dass Anregung {\"u}bertragen wird, die Phase der Anregung zu kontrollieren und nutzen. Eine m{\"o}gliche Anwendung ist die Unterscheidung verschiedener Substanzen in einer Messung. In der Summe wurden im Rahmen dieser Arbeit verschiedene robuste Methoden eta- bliert, die die M{\"o}glichkeiten der quantitativen physiologischen MRT erweitern.},
  subject      = {Kernspintomografie},
  language  = {de}
}
@article{WinterAndelovicKampfetal.2019,
  author    = {Winter, Patrick and Andelovic, Kristina and Kampf, Thomas and Gutjahr, Fabian Tobias and Heidenreich, Julius and Zernecke, Alma and Bauer, Wolfgang Rudolf and Jakob, Peter Michael and Herold, Volker},
  title     = {Fast self-navigated wall shear stress measurements in the murine aortic archusing radial 4D-phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance at 17.6 T},
  series = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  volume    = {21},
  journal   = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  doi       = {10.1186/s12968-019-0566-z},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201120},
  pages     = {64},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Purpose 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and the assessment of wall shear stress (WSS) are non-invasive tools to study cardiovascular risks in vivo. Major limitations of conventional triggered methods are the long measurement times needed for high-resolution data sets and the necessity of stable electrocardiographic (ECG) triggering. In this work an ECG-free retrospectively synchronized method is presented that enables accelerated high-resolution measurements of 4D flow and WSS in the aortic arch of mice. Methods 4D flow and WSS were measured in the aortic arch of 12-week-old wildtype C57BL/6 J mice (n = 7) with a radial 4D-phase-contrast (PC)-CMR sequence, which was validated in a flow phantom. Cardiac and respiratory motion signals were extracted from the radial CMR signal and were used for the reconstruction of 4D-flow data. Rigid motion correction and a first order B0 correction was used to improve the robustness of magnitude and velocity data. The aortic lumen was segmented semi-automatically. Temporally averaged and time-resolved WSS and oscillatory shear index (OSI) were calculated from the spatial velocity gradients at the lumen surface at 14 locations along the aortic arch. Reproducibility was tested in 3 animals and the influence of subsampling was investigated. Results Volume flow, cross-sectional areas, WSS and the OSI were determined in a measurement time of only 32 min. Longitudinal and circumferential WSS and radial stress were assessed at 14 analysis planes along the aortic arch. The average longitudinal, circumferential and radial stress values were 1.52 ± 0.29 N/m2, 0.28 ± 0.24 N/m2 and - 0.21 ± 0.19 N/m2, respectively. Good reproducibility of WSS values was observed. Conclusion This work presents a robust measurement of 4D flow and WSS in mice without the need of ECG trigger signals. The retrospective approach provides fast flow quantification within 35 min and a flexible reconstruction framework.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GramGenslerAlbertovaetal.2022,
  author    = {Gram, Maximilian and Gensler, Daniel and Albertova, Petra and Gutjahr, Fabian Tobias and Lau, Kolja and Arias-Loza, Paula-Anahi and Jakob, Peter Michael and Nordbeck, Peter},
  title     = {Quantification correction for free-breathing myocardial T1ρ mapping in mice using a recursively derived description of a T\(_{1p}\)\(^{*}\) relaxation pathway},
  series = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance},
  number    = {1},
  doi       = {10.1186/s12968-022-00864-2},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300491},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Background Fast and accurate T1ρ mapping in myocardium is still a major challenge, particularly in small animal models. The complex sequence design owing to electrocardiogram and respiratory gating leads to quantification errors in in vivo experiments, due to variations of the T\(_{1p}\) relaxation pathway. In this study, we present an improved quantification method for T\(_{1p}\) using a newly derived formalism of a T\(_{1p}\)\(^{*}\) relaxation pathway. Methods The new signal equation was derived by solving a recursion problem for spin-lock prepared fast gradient echo readouts. Based on Bloch simulations, we compared quantification errors using the common monoexponential model and our corrected model. The method was validated in phantom experiments and tested in vivo for myocardial T\(_{1p}\) mapping in mice. Here, the impact of the breath dependent spin recovery time T\(_{rec}\) on the quantification results was examined in detail. Results Simulations indicate that a correction is necessary, since systematically underestimated values are measured under in vivo conditions. In the phantom study, the mean quantification error could be reduced from - 7.4\% to - 0.97\%. In vivo, a correlation of uncorrected T\(_{1p}\) with the respiratory cycle was observed. Using the newly derived correction method, this correlation was significantly reduced from r = 0.708 (p < 0.001) to r = 0.204 and the standard deviation of left ventricular T\(_{1p}\) values in different animals was reduced by at least 39\%. Conclusion The suggested quantification formalism enables fast and precise myocardial T\(_{1p}\) quantification for small animals during free breathing and can improve the comparability of study results. Our new technique offers a reasonable tool for assessing myocardial diseases, since pathologies that cause a change in heart or breathing rates do not lead to systematic misinterpretations. Besides, the derived signal equation can be used for sequence optimization or for subsequent correction of prior study results.},
  language  = {en}
}