Background-An exact understanding of normal age-and gender-matched regional myocardial performance is an essential perquisite for the diagnosis of heart disease. Magnetic resonance phase-contrast imaging (tissue phase mapping) enabling the analysis of segmental, 3-directional myocardial velocities with high temporal resolution (13.8 ms) was used to assess left ventricular motion. Methods and Results-Radial, long-axis, and rotational myocardial velocities were acquired in 58 healthy volunteers (3 age groups, 29 women) in left ventricular basal, midventricular, and apical short-axis locations. For increased age, reduced (PϽ0.003) and prolonged long-axis and radial velocities (PϽ0.05) during diastole and reduced long-axis velocities (PϽ0.001) and apical rotation (PϽ0.005) during systole were found for both genders. Women demonstrated a reduced systolic twist (Pϭ0.009), apical rotation (Pϭ0.01), and systolic radial velocities (PϽ0.02) compared with men. Segmental analysis of long-axis motion with aging revealed differences in regional reduction of systolic (lateral 52% versus 30%) and diastolic (lateral 57% versus 41%) velocities in women compared with men. In basal segments, young women demonstrated higher long-axis velocities (ϩ11% during diastole) than men, whereas this difference was reversed in older subjects (same segments, Ϫ20%). In addition, increased age resulted in a prolonged time to peak diastolic apical rotation (PϽ0.04) in women compared with men. Conclusions-Age and gender strongly influence regional myocardial motion. Tissue phase mapping provides a comprehensive quantitative analysis of all myocardial velocities with high temporal and spatial resolution. The knowledge of the detected ageand gender-related differences in myocardial motion is fundamental for further investigations of cardiac disease. Clinical Trial Registration-http://www.zks.uni-freiburg.de/uklreg/php/suchergebnis_all.php. Identifier: UKF001739(Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2010;3:54-64.)Key Words: magnetic resonance imaging Ⅲ myocardial contraction Ⅲ aging Ⅲ gender V olumetric analysis of the left ventricle based on MRI has been established as a reference standard for the determination of left ventricular (LV) performance. 1 However, early changes in LV motion and regional pathologies may be overlooked by these global parameters because they do not reflect diastolic function or segmental contractility, which are not uniform within the healthy LV. 2 Therefore, a complete segmental analysis of velocities is preferable to detect subtle changes in LV motion. 3 Quantitative noninvasive assessment of regional myocardial performance still remains challenging. 4 Myocardial velocities and derived parameters mainly based on tissue Doppler imaging were suggested as markers for LV contractility 5 and diastolic function. 4 However, because tissue Doppler velocity analyses do not allow assessing all myocardial velocity components, ie, radial, long-axis, and rotational motion for the different LV regions, MRI applications have been developed as alterna...

Purpose: To apply high-temporal-resolution tissue phase mapping (TPM) to derive a detailed representation of normal regional myocardial motion in a large cohort of 58 normal subjects (three age groups) and one patient with dilated cardiomyopathy. Materials and Methods:Analysis included transformation of the acquired myocardial velocities into radial, circumferential, and long-axis motion components representing left ventricular (LV) function with a spatiotemporal resolution of 1.3 ϫ 2.6 ϫ 8 mm 3 and 13.8 msec, respectively. To compare multidirectional regional myocardial velocities between groups of subjects, a multisegment and multislice visualization model was employed. Regional myocardial motion was mapped onto the visualization model to display the current status of myocardial motion from base to apex as in-plane velocity vector fields in conjunction with colorcoded long-axis plane motion. Moreover, correlation analysis was used to investigate regional differences in myocardial dynamics.Results: Age-related changes in LV myocardial velocities resulted in significant differences of peak and time-to-peak velocities in the radial and long-axis directions. Correlation analysis revealed clearly visible regional differences in the temporal evolution of long-axis and circumferential velocities, particularly between the youngest and oldest age groups. Comparison of pathological LV motion with agematched volunteers indicated marked regional alterations in myocardial velocities and dynamics. Conclusion:High-temporal-resolution TPM in combination with a schematic visualization model and correlation analysis permits the identification of local changes in myocardial velocities associated with different age groups and a common LV pathology.