Dynamic Regularized Adaptive Cluster Optimization (DRACO) for Quantitative Cardiac Cine MRI in Complex Arrhythmias

Zhengyang Ming; Arutyun Pogosyan; Anthony G Christodoulou; J Paul Finn; Dan Ruan; Kim-Lien Nguyen

doi:10.1002/jmri.29425

Dynamic Regularized Adaptive Cluster Optimization (DRACO) for Quantitative Cardiac Cine MRI in Complex Arrhythmias

J Magn Reson Imaging. 2025 Jan;61(1):248-262. doi: 10.1002/jmri.29425. Epub 2024 May 6.

Authors

Zhengyang Ming^{1

2}, Arutyun Pogosyan³, Anthony G Christodoulou^{2

4}, J Paul Finn^{1

2}, Dan Ruan^{1

4

5}, Kim-Lien Nguyen^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Physics and Biology in Medicine Graduate Program, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Division of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, California, USA.

PMID: 38708951
PMCID: PMC11538382 (available on 2026-01-01)
DOI: 10.1002/jmri.29425

Abstract

Background: Irregular cardiac motion can render conventional segmented cine MRI nondiagnostic. Clustering has been proposed for cardiac motion binning and may be optimized for complex arrhythmias.

Purpose: To develop an adaptive cluster optimization method for irregular cardiac motion, and to generate the corresponding time-resolved cine images.

Study type: Prospective.

Subjects: Thirteen with atrial fibrillation, four with premature ventricular contractions, and one patient in sinus rhythm.

Field strength/sequence: Free-running balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) with sorted golden-step, reference real-time sequence.

Assessment: Each subject underwent both the sorted golden-step bSSFP and the reference Cartesian real-time imaging. Golden-step bSSFP images were reconstructed using the dynamic regularized adaptive cluster optimization (DRACO) method and k-means clustering. Image quality (4-point Likert scale), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), edge sharpness, and ventricular function were assessed.

Statistical tests: Paired t-tests, Friedman test, regression analysis, Fleiss' Kappa, Bland-Altman analysis. Significance level P < 0.05.

Results: The DRACO method had the highest percent of images with scores ≥3 (96% for diastolic frame, 93% for systolic frame, and 93% for multiphase cine) and the percentages were significantly higher compared with both the k-means and real-time methods. Image quality scores, SNR, and CNR were significantly different between DRACO vs. k-means and between DRACO vs. real-time. Cardiac function analysis showed no significant differences between DRACO vs. the reference real-time.

Conclusion: DRACO with time-resolved reconstruction generated high quality images and has early promise for quantitative cine cardiac MRI in patients with complex arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation.

Technical efficacy: Stage 2.

Keywords: arrhythmia; atrial fibrillation; clustering algorithm; golden‐step acquisition; quantitative MRI; total variation.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Algorithms*
Arrhythmias, Cardiac* / diagnostic imaging
Atrial Fibrillation / diagnostic imaging
Cluster Analysis
Female
Heart / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine* / methods
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Reproducibility of Results
Signal-To-Noise Ratio

Abstract

MeSH terms

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