Skreb, NikolaLoncaric, FilipLi, Kan Yan ChloeBonnin, AnneDejea i Velardo, HèctorGarcía-Canadilla, PatriciaIlic, IvanaGasparovic, HrvojeMilicic, DavorBijnens, BartCook, Andrew C.Planinc, IvoCikes, Maja2025-10-202025-10-202025Skreb N, Loncaric F, Li KYC, Bonnin A, Dejea H, Garcia-Canadilla P, et al. Synchrotron-based X-ray 3D phase contrast imaging and analysis of transmural myocardial tissue from heart failure patients. Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 16;15(1):25867. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-04012-52045-2322http://hdl.handle.net/10230/71548Synchrotron-based X-ray phase contrast imaging (X-PCI) is a non-destructive imaging modality that can provide high resolution three-dimensional (3D) visualisation of transmural myocardial tissue, collagen matrix reconstruction, and quantification of myocyte aggregate orientation (‘myomapping’). We aimed to use X-PCI to analyse microstructural features in transmural myocardial samples from patients with advanced heart failure. Six patients were included: two receiving a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for ischaemic (ICM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and four undergoing heart transplantation (HTx), two for the ICM, one for DCM and one for toxic cardiomyopathy. Samples were obtained by left ventricular (LV) apical coring (LVAD group) or from the LV free wall of the explanted hearts (HTx group) and imaged by X-PCI using a multi-scale setup (maximal resolution at 0.65 µm pixel size). The 3D image datasets were analysed via two-dimensional orthogonal cuts in different layers. Visualisation and quantification of the myocyte aggregates orientation showed a disruption in epicardial-to-endocardial transition in DCM, whereas the collagen matrix reconstruction identified characteristic fibrosis patterns amongst different HF aetiologies. In conclusion, X-PCI is a 3D imaging method that can extend the amount of information available from ex-vivo tissue analysis and, as an addition to multimodal imaging protocols, potentially improve disease phenotyping.application/pdfengThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04012-5Heart failureCardiomyopathyHeart transplantationLeft ventricular assist deviceX-ray phase contrast imagingHistopathologyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess