Myocardium microcirculation study in a healthy Chinese population using 3.0-T cardiac magnetic resonance intravoxel incoherent motion imaging.

Background: Intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) can non-invasively evaluate diffusion and microvascular perfusion.

Purpose: To explore the myocardium microcirculation of a healthy Chinese population by using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) IVIM.

Material And Methods: A total of 80 healthy volunteers (44 men, 36 women) who underwent 3.0-T CMR examination were enrolled. All participants had cardiac cine imaging and short-axis CMR-IVIM of the left ventricle (LV) using multiple b-values. The consistency of the IVIM parameters was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the Bland-Altman test. Spearman correlation analysis was performed between IVIM parameters and age, and body mass index (BMI). The differences of IVIM parameters were analyzed between gender and different ages.

Results: LV end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), LVmass, cardiac output (CO), and BMI in the male group were higher than those in the female group (<0.05). IVIM parameters had good intra-observer and inter-observer consistency (≥0.75). Bland-Altman analysis also showed good intra-observer and inter-observer consistency. ADC decreased with increasing female age (rs = -0.37;  = 0.01), while IVIM parameters had no correlation with BMI regardless of sex. ADC in the female group had a statistical difference between different age groups. The ADC and f in the male group were lower than those in the female group (<0.05); however, there was no statistical difference in ADC between genders.

Conclusion: IVIM parameters in healthy Chinese volunteers provided good consistency. There was a negative correlation between ADC and age in the female group.