Authors:

Laura Fern

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About Paper:

Background: Each year, over seven million people experience a heart attack. Some hearts recover, but many develop stiff scar tissue that limits pumping and leads to heart failure. We cannot yet predict which hearts will follow this path, losing the chance for timely personalized treatment before it is too late. Objective: Determine whether early in vivo 4D strain measurements can predict ex vivo fibrotic remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Methods: MI was induced in 20-week-old female C57BL/6Jvr mice (n=3) by permanent left coronary artery ligation. 4D ultrasound was performed at baseline, 4 hours, 5 days, and 30 days post-MI. We measured regional circumferential (Ecc), longitudinal (Ell), radial (Err), and surface area (Ea) strain using a custom MATLAB toolbox. At 30 days post-MI, tissue was stained with Alcian Blue and quantified for fibrosis using ImageJ. Strain and fibrosis data were mapped to the AHA 17-segment model, excluding basal segments. Results: Global strain analysis showed that lower early strain values correlated with higher fibrosis at day 30. The strongest negative correlation was observed for Ea at 4 hours post-MI (p=0.00013, R²=0.38), followed by Ecc (p=0.00081, R²=0.31), and Ell (p=0.0496, R²=0.12). This pattern was most evident in the apical lateral and posterior segments, where lower strain aligned with increased fibrosis. Discussion & Conclusion: Early strain reductions were heterogeneous but large in apical lateral and posterior segments, which showed the most fibrosis 30 days after infarction. These results support the use of 4D ultrasound-derived strain as a potential non-invasive predictor of fibrotic remodeling post-MI. Keywords: Heart Attack; Cardiac Remodeling; 4D Ultrasound; Fibrosis; Strain † Presenting Undergrad Author; ‡ Contributing Undergrad Author; * Undergrad Acknowledgment

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Laura Fern