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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2005;27:472-474
© 2005 Elsevier Science NL

Editorial comment

New technology and old responsibilities

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Rm 62-258 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA Options of Bio-Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. Califoria Blud., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

^* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 310 206 1027; fax: +1 310 825 5895. (E-mail: gbuckberg@mednet.ucla.edu).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The purpose of placing this report of diffusion tensor imaging into a surgical journal is not clear. This is a time-consuming study that is technically well done to permit data accumulation.The acquisitions for a complete DTI data set usually take about 9h, yielding about 200,000 helix angle measurements from each heart. There is extensive background for use of this MRI method in the literature, including histological evaluation by Scollan et al. and Chen et al. [1,2], and the central theme of each paper validates the suggestion of Streeter [3] about the oblique and helical configuration of the fiber orientation. Diffusion tensor imaging papers [4] provide clear eigenvector pixel images of orientation angulation going from epicardium to endocardium of around +60 to –60°, yet the authors do not include this helical pattern in their data base and refer to this blueprint in only one sentence in their discussion.

This paper amplifies the sustained effort from Lunkenheimer and Anderson to show that the ventricular band concept of Torrent-Guasp is wrong. The diffusion tensor method in dead hearts simply supports the suggestions of Streeter about the helical formation of the ventricle. In fact, each prior MRI paper defines the angle of inclination in the dead heart as the helical angle, with clockwise and counterclockwise fibers traversing the ventricular wall, through 0, to define the +60 and –60° inclination angle, as well as transverse dimensions. Similar examples also appear in studies by Hsu, Forder, Geerts (cited in their references), Costa et al [5] using strain, and many others that look at the helical configuration of fibers with diffusion tensor MRI methods.

Unfortunately, this concept of helical inclination is completely missing from their results, with a description focus . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. F. Corno, M. J. Kocica, and F. Torrent-Guasp The helical ventricular myocardial band of Torrent-Guasp: potential implications in congenital heart defects Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., April 1, 2006; 29(Suppl_1): S61 - S68. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. F. Corno Reply to Lunkenheimer et al. Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., November 1, 2005; 28(5): 780 - 780. [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. H. Anderson, S. Y. Ho, K. Redmann, D. Sanchez-Quintana, and P. P. Lunkenheimer The anatomical arrangement of the myocardial cells making up the ventricular mass Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., October 1, 2005; 28(4): 517 - 525. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]