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(Circulation. 2004;109:3221-3222.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Images in Cardiovascular Medicine

Four-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Velocity Mapping in a Healthy Volunteer With Pseudocoarctation of the Thoracic Aorta

Michael D. Hope, BA, BS; Jonathan M. Levin, MD; Michael Markl, PhD; Mary T. Draney, PhD; Marc Alley, PhD; Robert J. Herfkens, MD

From the Departments of Radiology (M.D.H., J.M.K., M.M., M.A., R.J.H.) and Biomechanical Engineering (M.T.D.), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Correspondence to Robert Herfkens, MD, Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucas Center for MR Spectroscopy and Imaging, P263, 1201 Welch Rd, Stanford CA, 94305–5488. E-mail herfkens@stanford.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Four-dimensional (4D) velocity mapping technology is used here to evaluate blood flow patterns associated with an incidentally noted, non-hemodynamically significant pseudocoarctation of the proximal descending thoracic aorta in a healthy volunteer (Figure). The 4D phase-contrast magnetic resonance (MR) velocity mapping using time-resolved, cardiac-gated 3-dimensional (3D) velocity data allows for visualization of complex multidimensional blood flow with complete spatial and temporal registration of the region of interest. Four-dimensional velocity mapping is a reliable technique for the analysis and visualization of normal and pathological blood flow features throughout the thoracic aorta. The 4D nature of the data set affords a variety of post-processing options. One visualization technique that has been developed for interpretation of 4D MR data sets is referred to as streamlines. These imaginary lines are aligned with local vector fields and represent the flow field at any given moment throughout the cardiac cycle. Streamlines originate from points on a 2-dimensional grid plane that is arbitrarily positioned within the imaging volume.

View larger version (54K): [in this window] [in a new window]   A 4D velocity mapping study of a healthy, middle-aged volunteer. A, 3D contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography prescribed in the oblique-sagittal orientation, demonstrating ectasia of thoracic aortic arch with a pseudocoarctation pattern. The remainder of the aortic contours are smooth, without evidence for regional stenosis or dilatation. A normal anatomic variant bovine arch, with the left common carotid artery arising from the brachiocephalic artery, is incidentally visualized. B, Streamlines, released from a 2-dimensional grid plane at the level of the ascending aorta, demonstrate the 3D magnitude of the local . . . [Full Text of this Article]