myocardial tagging
A specialized cardiac MRI technique that creates grid patterns on the myocardium to track tissue deformation and strain.
Full Definition
Myocardial tagging is a specialized cardiac magnetic resonance imaging technique that applies radiofrequency pulses to create a grid pattern of saturated tissue tags on the myocardium at end-diastole. These tags deform with the heart muscle throughout the cardiac cycle, allowing precise tracking of myocardial motion and quantification of regional strain parameters. The technique provides detailed assessment of left ventricular mechanics including circumferential, radial, and longitudinal strain, as well as torsional motion. While more time-consuming than standard cine imaging, tagging offers superior accuracy for strain measurement and has been valuable in research applications and clinical assessment of subtle myocardial dysfunction. Modern variations include DENSE and SENC techniques that provide similar information with improved efficiency.
In Context
- "Myocardial tagging revealed reduced circumferential strain in the anteroseptal segments." — Cardiac MRI research study
- "The tagging sequence was added to assess regional wall motion abnormalities." — MRI protocol documentation