University of Wisconsin Physics and Radiology departments have created groundbreaking technology that produces four-dimensional images of the heart, allowing for collection of data nine times faster than traditional technology.

The dimensions of the image include all three spatial directions — right-left, up-down, front-back — and the fourth-dimension of time, seen as changes of blood flow patterns during contraction and relaxation of the heart, assistant professor in the departments of medical physics, radiology and biomedical engineering Oliver Wieben said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

This new technique, entitled Phase Contrast with Vastly Under-sampled Isotropic Projection Reconstruction, produces colorful pictures that represent the rate of blood flow at various locations in the heart, Wieben confirmed.

In the images, blood looks like bundles of colored thread. Blue thread represents slow-flowing blood occurring when the heart is relaxed and green thread represents faster-flowing blood occurring when the heart is contracted. Red or yellow thread indicates irregularly fast-flowing blood occurring in patients with heart conditions.

“This [technology] … could really make a difference in how we image patients with cardiovascular diseases,” assistant professor of radiology in the cardiothoracic and MRI divisions Chris Francois said in an e-mail.

PC VIPR is able to acquire this data in less than 10 minutes, whereas obtaining similar data with traditional technologies would take approximately 90 minutes, Wieben said.

“Obtaining these 4-D flow images of the heart allows us to measure blood flow in the heart and chest in any location without limitations with respect to patient body size or ability of patient to hold his/her breath,” Wieben said.

With traditional approaches, specific parts of the heart or vessels may not be captured and a patient will often need to be called back for a second exam, Wieben added. However, PC VIPR eliminates this need because it obtains images of the entire chest.

The 4-D images afford specialists the opportunity to study cardiovascular diseases in-depth but non-invasively, and the properties of the heart which doctors can now study with PC VIPR could help predict the development of aneurysms or atherosclerotic disease, Wieben said.

Francois said Charles Mistretta of the department of medical physics started the 4-D flow-imaging project in 2002.

Francois and Wieben have been working on this technology since 2007 and they began focusing on heart imaging in 2009.

“This is a project that emphasizes the need and potential for collaborations across research disciplines for the advancement of novel diagnostic techniques,” Wieben said. “We are fortunate that our department chairs … have facilitated and supported such close collaborations.”

Wieben said there is still much work to do on the post-processing side of development.

“We are currently using visualization software designed [for] the airplane and car industry,” he said.

Wieben added in the future the project hopes to have simple-to-use, commercially available computer software designed specifically to visualize the data collected using PC VIPR.

“We … also have to demonstrate the clinical usability of this approach in larger patient studies,” Wieben added.