Invited Lecture Session 01: Normal Ranges and Standardized Protocols-clip-20170216032015

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker discusses how advances in cardiac MRI pulse sequences and software can significantly alter quantitative results, making comparisons across scanners, centers, and even years difficult. Using the MESA study as an example, he shows how changes from FGRE to SSFP, new readers, and new analysis tools affected measurements of left ventricular mass and volume. Careful calibration, consensus protocols, and standardized normal values were needed to distinguish true heart changes from technical variation. He emphasizes that reader-dependent contouring, papillary muscle/trabeculation handling, chemical shift artifacts, and indexing methods like body surface area can all change results. The talk calls for more standardized acquisition and analysis methods, user-independent software, updated normal-value databases, and curated shared datasets such as the Cardiac Atlas Project.

Keywords

cardiac MRI

quantitative variability

MESA study

standardization

left ventricular measurements