Feasibility of Wave Intensity Analysis from 4D Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Hemodynamics
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Congenital heart defects (CHD) like bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) cause altered aortic blood flow.
• Accurate hemodynamic assessment is vital for diagnosing and managing CHD.
• Current methods like phase contrast MRI (PC-MRI) have limitations in comprehensive flow analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of deriving wave intensity analysis (WIA) from 4D MRI data.
• To investigate aortic hemodynamics in patients with BAV compared to healthy controls.
• To establish a novel approach for retrospective hemodynamic analysis using 4D flow data.

Main Methods:

• Collected 4D MRI data from 12 BAV patients and 7 healthy controls.
• Applied wave intensity analysis (WIA) to derive hemodynamic parameters.
• Performed analysis across ascending, thoracic, and descending aorta planes.

Main Results:

• Successfully derived WIA from 4D MRI data in all participants.
• Obtained physiological wave speed values.
• Demonstrated the potential for studying wave travel and reflection in the aorta.

Conclusions:

• 4D MRI enables the derivation of wave intensity analysis for hemodynamic assessment.
• This technique offers a novel, retrospective approach to analyzing aortic blood flow.
• Paves the way for further research into cardiovascular conditions using 4D flow data.