Abstract
Purpose: Knowledge of the hemodynamics in the vascular system is important to understand and treat vascular pathology. The present study aimed to evaluate the hemodynamics in the human carotid artery bifurcation measured by four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as compared to computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Methods: This protocol used MRI data of 12 healthy volunteers for the 3D vascular models and 4D flow MRI measurements for the boundary conditions in CFD simulation. We compared the velocities measured at the carotid bifurcation and the 3D velocity streamlines of the carotid arteries obtained by these two methods. Results: There was a good agreement for both maximum and minimum velocity values between the 2 methods for velocity magnitude at the bifurcation plane. However, on the 3D blood flow visualization, secondary flows, and recirculation regions are of poorer quality when visualized through the 4D flow MRI. Conclusion: 4D flow MRI and CFD show reasonable agreement in demonstrated velocity magnitudes at the carotid artery bifurcation. However, the visualization of blood flow at the recirculation regions and the assessment of secondary flow characteristics should be enhanced for the use of 4D flow MRI in clinical situations.
Highlights
Knowledge of the hemodynamic behaviors of blood flow in the vascular system is important in order to understand and treat vascular pathology [1,2,3]
The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed by the segmentation of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and to achieve the most appropriate boundary conditions from the 4D flow MRI measurements
The velocity waveforms at the bifurcation plane for each subject provided by the 2 methods revealed a close similarity of the shape (Figure 3A)
Summary
Knowledge of the hemodynamic behaviors of blood flow in the vascular system is important in order to understand and treat vascular pathology [1,2,3]. While cardiovascular risk factors may decrease arterial distensibility and increase vessel wall thickness of the carotid artery [4], the development and progression of atherosclerosis in the carotid bifurcation is related to its local hemodynamic conditions, such as deceleration of blood flow, secondary flow, and shear stress—as has been shown in vitro, in animal models, and in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in vivo [3,5,6,7]. Diagnostics 2019, 9, 223 important method of visualizing blood flow and is widely used to evaluate the cardiovascular system’s local hemodynamic condition [9]. Four-dimensional (4D) flow MRI has become a powerful tool for assessing blood flow. It is a feasible method of measuring the 3D distribution of the blood velocity vector field in vivo, allowing 3D flow structures to be examined with a single scan [10,11]
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