MR measurement and numerical simulation of steady flow in an end-to-side anastomosis model

Magnetic resonance phase contrast velocity imaging ('MR PC velocimetry') is a powerful tool for measuring blood velocity. While it has been demonstrated that MR PC velocimetry can accurately measure velocity profiles in simple, unidirectional flows, errors can arise when measuring the more complex, multidirectional flows of clinical importance. In this work, we have compared MR PC velocity measurements with numerical simulations of steady flow in a physiologically relevant model of an end-to-side anastomosis, which produces many of the complex flow features expected in vivo. MR PC velocity profiles, measured using both 2D and 3D pulse sequences, showed very good agreement with numerically computed profiles, although at 2D PC data showed slightly larger errors than the 3D PC data in regions of high accelerations and oblique flow, likely due to displacement artifacts. We conclude that, under ideal conditions, MR phase contrast velocimetry can measure complex flow patterns to within 15% accuracy, but that care should be taken when using 2D pulse sequences to measure such complex flows.