3D evaluation of myocardial systolic wall stress from cardiac magnetic resonance cine data

The aim of our study was to develop a 3D model for myocardial wall stress (MWS) evaluation and to test its ability to characterize left ventricular (LV) aging and the effect of aortic valve stenosis (AVS). We studied 65 subjects (45 controls and 20 with AVS) who had a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) exam and a measure of central pressures. 3D MWS evaluation combined systolic pressures and an LV geometrical factor. 3D evaluation corrected the 2D erroneous underestimation of the apical MWS. The 3D LV geometrical factor significantly decreased with aging, resulting in a normalization of the MWS which indicated the normal adaptation of the LV. Besides, the 3D MWS significantly increased in subjects with severe AVS when compared to the aged controls, reflecting an elevated afterload while it remained unchanged in subjects with less severe AVS. The addition of MWS evaluation to clinical CMR tools would enable a better characterization of LV remodeling.