Gen Shinohara1, Kiyozo Morita2, Masato Hoshino3, Yoshihiro Ko1, Takuro Tsukube4, Yukihiro Kaneko5, Hiroyuki Morishita5, Yoshihiro Oshima6, Hironori Matsuhisa6, Ryuma Iwaki6, Masashi Takahashi7, Takaaki Matsuyama8, Kazuhiro Hashimoto1, Naoto Yagi3. 1. Department of Cardiac Surgery, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. 2. Department of Cardiac Surgery, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan kiyozo@jikei.ac.jp. 3. Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (SPring-8), Sayo-gun, Hyogo, Japan. 4. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Kobe Hospital, Kobe, Japan. 5. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, National Medical Center for Children and Mothers, Tokyo, Japan. 6. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kobe Children's Hospital, Kobe, Japan. 7. Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan. 8. Division of Pathology, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The feasibility of synchrotron radiation-based phase-contrast computed tomography (PCCT) for visualization of the atrioventricular (AV) conduction axis in human whole heart specimens was tested using four postmortem structurally normal newborn hearts obtained at autopsy. METHODS: A PCCT imaging system at the beamline BL20B2 in a SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility was used. The PCCT imaging of the conduction system was performed with "virtual" slicing of the three-dimensional reconstructed images. For histological verification, specimens were cut into planes similar to the PCCT images, then cut into 5-μm serial sections and stained with Masson's trichrome. RESULTS: In PCCT images of all four of the whole hearts of newborns, the AV conduction axis was distinguished as a low-density structure, which was serially traceable from the compact node to the penetrating bundle within the central fibrous body, and to the branching bundle into the left and right bundle branches. This was verified by histological serial sectioning. CONCLUSION: This is the first demonstration that visualization of the AV conduction axis within human whole heart specimens is feasible with PCCT.
BACKGROUND: The feasibility of synchrotron radiation-based phase-contrast computed tomography (PCCT) for visualization of the atrioventricular (AV) conduction axis in human whole heart specimens was tested using four postmortem structurally normal newborn hearts obtained at autopsy. METHODS: A PCCT imaging system at the beamline BL20B2 in a SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility was used. The PCCT imaging of the conduction system was performed with "virtual" slicing of the three-dimensional reconstructed images. For histological verification, specimens were cut into planes similar to the PCCT images, then cut into 5-μm serial sections and stained with Masson's trichrome. RESULTS: In PCCT images of all four of the whole hearts of newborns, the AV conduction axis was distinguished as a low-density structure, which was serially traceable from the compact node to the penetrating bundle within the central fibrous body, and to the branching bundle into the left and right bundle branches. This was verified by histological serial sectioning. CONCLUSION: This is the first demonstration that visualization of the AV conduction axis within human whole heart specimens is feasible with PCCT.
Authors: Jordan K Johnson; Brian K Cottle; Abhijit Mondal; Robert Hitchcock; Aditya K Kaza; Frank B Sachse Journal: PLoS One Date: 2020-05-07 Impact factor: 3.240