Myocardial Infarction: An Investigation of Mesostructure using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Voxel-Based Analysis

Ex vivo DTI was performed in hearts suffering from myocardial infarction. Data was reconstructed using both tensor-based and voxel-based analysis. The fixel number (FN) consistently showed that there was a single fiber population (FN=1) in both infarcted and healthy myocardium. The complexity (CX) indicates the spread and magnitude of diffusion along different directions, but was not significantly different between infarct and healthy regions. The apparent fiber density (AFD) reveals the density of each fiber population within a voxel, and curiously increased in the infarct region, which may indicate the compaction of fiber populations running through the infarct.