Computer-assisted evaluation of aortic stiffness using data acquired via magnetic resonance.
Aortic stiffness is frequently assessed through pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements. Based on data acquired by magnetic resonance (MR) using a one-dimensional time-of-flight technique, a new computational tool has been developed to rapidly construct flow velocity images and automatically calculate PWV. Comparison between PWV results obtained from this and a manual analysis demonstrates good agreement (correlation coefficient of 0.9951), while the new method improves the time efficiency by more than 20 times. The new method can also significantly improve flow signal quality and yield more credible results when strong interfering background signals are present.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, P.O. Box 980694, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-0694, USA.
Xianzhi
X
Shao
Ding-Yu
DY
Fei
Kenneth A
KA
Kraft
D001011:Aorta / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface