Application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Studying the Three-Dimensional Flow Structure in Blood Vessel Models

Abstract

A possibility of using the 4D Qflow protocol, which is commonly applied for medical diagnostics by magnetic resonance imaging, for determining the structure of the three-dimensional fluid flow in the human blood circulation system is considered. Specialized software is developed for processing DICOM images taken by a magnetic resonance scanner, and the retrieved unsteady three-dimensional velocity field is analyzed. It is demonstrated that magnetic resonance measurements allow one to detect the existence of the swirling flow in blood vessel models and also to study the degree of its swirling (helicity) both qualitatively and quantitatively.