Background: To evaluate the inter-study, inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility of cardiac cine and scar\r\nimaging in rats using a clinical 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) system.\r\nMethods: Thirty-three adult rats (Spragueââ?¬â??Dawley) were imaged 24 hours after surgical occlusion of the left\r\nanterior descending coronary artery using a 3.0 Tesla clinical MR scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands)\r\nequipped with a dedicated 70 mm solenoid receive-only coil. Left-ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, ejection fraction\r\nand amount of myocardial scar tissue were measured. Intra-and inter-observer reproducibility was assessed in all\r\nanimals. In addition, repeat MR exams were performed in 6 randomly chosen rats within 24 hours to assess\r\ninter-study reproducibility.\r\nResults: The MR imaging protocol was successfully completed in 32 (97%) animals. Bland-Altman analysis\r\ndemonstrated high intra-reader reproducibility (mean bias%: LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), -1.7%; LV end-systolic\r\nvolume (LVESV), -2.2%; LV ejection fraction (LVEF), 1.0%; LV mass, -2.7%; and scar mass, -1.2%) and high inter-reader\r\nreproducibility (mean bias%: LVEDV, 3.3%; LVESV, 6.2%; LVEF, -4.8%; LV mass, -1.9%; and scar mass, -1.8%). In addition,\r\na high inter-study reproducibility was found (mean bias%: LVEDV, 0.1%; LVESV, -1.8%; LVEF, 1.0%; LV mass, -4.6%;\r\nand scar mass, -6.2%).\r\nConclusions: Cardiac MR imaging of rats yielded highly reproducible measurements of cardiac volumes/function\r\nand myocardial infarct size on a clinical 3.0 Tesla MR scanner system. Consequently, more widely available high field\r\nclinical MR scanners can be employed for small animal imaging of the heart e.g. when aiming at serial assessments\r\nduring therapeutic intervention studies.
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