Does feature tracking CMR accurately quantify left ventricular strains and torsion compared to DENSE CMR?
Current feature tracking technology has limited utility for quantifying cardiac mechanics compared to DENSE CMR.
Compared to DENSE as a reference standard, feature tracking was inaccurate for quantification of apical and basal LV circumferential strains, longitudinal strain, torsion, and dyssynchrony. Feature tracking was only accurate for quantification of mid LV circumferential strain. Moreover, feature tracking is unnecessary for quantification of whole-slice strains (e.g. base, apex), since simplified processing of only ED and ES contours yields very similar results to those derived from feature tracking. Current feature tracking technology therefore has limited utility for quantification of cardiac mechanics.
Wehner et al. (Thu,) studied this question.