A multi-institution study team, including researchers led by Professor Choi Byoung-wook of radiology at Severance Hospital, has developed and verified a method to standardize cardiac MRI measurements, which appear differently depending on filming equipment and method.

Radiology Professor Choi Byoung-wook of Severance Hospital and his team have developed a method for standardizing cardiac MRI readings in collaboration with other medical institutions, state-run agencies, and business corporations.
Radiology Professor Choi Byoung-wook of Severance Hospital and his team have developed a method for standardizing cardiac MRI readings in collaboration with other medical institutions, state-run agencies, and business corporations.

It is important to diagnose features of cardiomyopathy tissue and the degree of fibrosis for diagnosis, treatment, and prognoses of myocardial diseases, such as cardiac infarction and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, it is difficult to compare MRI readings at different medical institutions as the MRI equipment and filming methods vary among hospitals, posing difficulty managing normal-range data for treatment.

Against this backdrop, the research team compared the cardiac MRI measurement of 71 people by age and gender using different MRI equipment at Severance Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), and Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital. As a result, the heart muscle’s T1 value using MRI differed among the Severance Hospital, SNUH, and ST. Mary’s Hospital with 1,198ms, 1,217ms, and 1,232ms, respectively.

Then, the researchers compared the T1 value with the corrected value after correcting the T1 value measured from the MRI and extracellular volume fraction using the T1 Mapping and Extracellular volume Standardization (TIMES) composed of standard reference material.

As a result, the T1 values among different institutions showed equivalent values after correction. Also, the measurement’s error decreased with the measurement’s coefficient of variation of the same patient reduced from 3 percent to 2.5 percent.

“Institutions can now use common data for disease diagnosis by standardizing cardiac MRI measurement based on the standard phantom,” Prof. Choi said. “Data compatibility and comparison among institutions with different MRI equipment and imaging methods have become possible, laying the basis for large-scale joint clinical trials of multiple institutions and accurate diagnosis based on big data using cardiac MRI.”

The research result was published in the latest edition of European Radiology (IF 7.034).

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