Evaluation of three different kinetic models for use with myocardial perfusion MRI data.

Coronary artery disease (CAD), a leading cause of death in the US and worldwide, can be effectively diagnosed and assessed using non-invasive myocardial perfusion MRI. Tracer kinetic models play a crucial role in the analysis and quantification of perfusion. In this work, we evaluate the performance of 3 different kinetic models used to analyze perfusion: (a) a modified 2-compartment model (b) the Johnson-Wilson (JW) model and (c) a modified JW model. We hypothesized that three different models would give statistically different results and that the modified JW model would be better than the other two because it would most closely model the underlying physiological processes. Results indicate that the models are statistically different from each other but the 2-compartment model is more stable than both models (b) and (c) and that the modified JW model is the most sensitive to ischemia as compared to the others.