Rapid measurement of aortic wave velocity: in vivo evaluation

A 1D MR sequence has been developed for determining aortic flow wave velocity (WV), a metric of arterial compliance, within a single cardiac cycle. Studies were carried out on the thoracic aortas of 10 normal volunteers. Correlative WV data were also acquired from each subject using a conventional phase-velocity 2D mapping technique. Aortic WV in this cohort was found to range from 411 to 714 cm/s and was highly correlated (R = 0.95) between the two methods. Peak blood velocity was also measured using both methods and found to agree closely. The reproducibility of WV measurements using the rapid 1D method averaged 7.6%, which is comparable or better than that achieved using existing noninvasive techniques. Magn Reson Med 46:95-102, 2001.