Does the Internal Carotid Artery Attenuate Blood‐Flow Pulsatility in Small Vessel Disease? A 7 T 4D ‐Flow MRI Study

AbstractCerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a major cause of stroke and cognitive impairment. However, the underlying mechanisms behind SVD are still poorly understood. High cerebral arterial pulsatility has been suggested as a possible cause of SVD. In population studies, arterial pulsatility has been linked to white matter hyperintensities (WMH), cerebral atrophy, and cognitive impairment, all features of SVD. In stroke, pulsatility data are scarce and contradictory. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between arterial pulsatility and SVD in stroke patients. With a cross-sectional design, 89 patients with acute ischemic stroke or TIA were examined with MRI. A neuropsychological assessment was performed 1 year later. Using 4D flow MRI, pulsatile indices (PI) were calculated for the internal carotid artery (ICA) and middle cerebral artery (M1, M3). Flow volume pulsatility (FVP), a measure corresponding to the cyclic expansion of the arterial tree, was calculated for the same locations. These parameters were assessed for associations with WMH volume, brain volume and cognitive function. ICA-FVP was associated with WMH volume (β = 1.67, 95% CI: [0.1, 3.24], p = 0.037). M1-PI and M1-FVP were associated with decreasing cognitive function (β = − 4.4, 95% CI: [− 7.7, − 1.1], p = 0.009 and β = − 13.15, 95% CI: [− 24.26, − 2.04], p = 0.02 respectively). In summary, this supports an association between arterial pulsatility and SVD in stroke patients, and provides a potential target for further research and preventative treatment. FVP may become a useful biomarker for assessing pulsatile stress with PCMRI and 4D flow MRI.

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CALCIFICATIONS OF THE INTRACRANIAL CAROTID ARTERY SELDOM CAUSE STENOSIS: A 4D FLOW MRI STUDY

10.26226/morressier.5ab8f560d462b8029238cd93 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Elias Johansson

Keyword(s):

Carotid Artery ◽

4D Flow Mri ◽

4D Flow ◽

Flow Mri ◽

Mri Study

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Improving Blood Flow Visualization of Recirculation Regions at Carotid Bulb in 4D Flow MRI Using Semi-Automatic Segmentation with ITK-SNAP

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics11101890 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 1890

Author(s):

Minh Tri Ngo ◽

Ui Yun Lee ◽

Hojin Ha ◽

Jinmu Jung ◽

Dong Hwan Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Blood Flow ◽

Carotid Artery ◽

Flow Visualization ◽

Automatic Generation ◽

4D Flow Mri ◽

4D Flow ◽

Recirculation Flow ◽

Bilateral Carotid ◽

Flow Mri ◽

Carotid Bulb

Assessment of carotid bulb hemodynamics using four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) requires accurate segmentation of recirculation regions that is frequently hampered by limited resolution. This study aims to improve the accuracy of 4D flow MRI carotid bulb segmentation and subsequent recirculation regions analysis. Time-of-flight (TOF) MRI and 4D flow MRI were performed on bilateral carotid artery bifurcations in seven healthy volunteers. TOF-MRI data was segmented into 3D geometry for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. ITK-SNAP segmentation software was included in the workflow for the semi-automatic generation of 4D flow MRI angiographic data. This study compared the velocities calculated at the carotid bifurcations and the 3D blood flow visualization at the carotid bulbs obtained by 4D flow MRI and CFD. By applying ITK-SNAP segmentation software, an obvious improvement in the 4D flow MRI visualization of the recirculation regions was observed. The 4D flow MRI images of the recirculation flow characteristics of the carotid artery bulbs coincided with the CFD. A reasonable agreement was found in terms of velocity calculated at the carotid bifurcation between CFD and 4D flow MRI. However, the dispersion of velocity data points relative to the local errors of measurement in 4D flow MRI remains. Our proposed strategy showed the feasibility of improving recirculation regions segmentation and the potential for reliable blood flow visualization in 4D flow MRI. However, quantitative analysis of recirculation regions in 4D flow MRI with ITK-SNAP should be enhanced for use in clinical situations.

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Multiparametric Flow Analysis using 4D Flow MRI can Detect Cerebral Hemodynamic Impairment in Patients with Internal Carotid Artery Stenotic Disease [Presidential Award Proceedings]

Japanese Journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine ◽

10.2463/jjmrm.2019-1700 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 36-38

Author(s):

Takahiro ANDO ◽

Tetsuro SEKINE ◽

Yasuo MURAI ◽

Erika ORITA ◽

Ryo TAKAGI ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carotid Artery ◽

Internal Carotid Artery ◽

Internal Carotid ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

4D Flow Mri ◽

4D Flow ◽

Cerebral Hemodynamic ◽

Flow Mri ◽

Hemodynamic Impairment

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Assessment of Cerebral Blood Flow Pulsatility and Cerebral Arterial Compliance With 4D Flow MRI

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

10.1002/jmri.26978 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 51 (5) ◽

pp. 1516-1525 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Madelene Holmgren ◽

Anders Wåhlin ◽

Tora Dunås ◽

Jan Malm ◽

Anders Eklund

Keyword(s):

Blood Flow ◽

Cerebral Blood Flow ◽

Arterial Compliance ◽

4D Flow Mri ◽

4D Flow ◽

Flow Pulsatility ◽

Flow Mri ◽

Cerebral Arterial Compliance

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Four-Dimensional Flow Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Assessment of Velocity Magnitudes and Flow Patterns in The Human Carotid Artery Bifurcation: Comparison with Computational Fluid Dynamics

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics9040223 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 223 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Minh Tri Ngo ◽

Chul In Kim ◽

Jinmu Jung ◽

Gyung Ho Chung ◽

Dong Hwan Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

Fluid Dynamics ◽

Blood Flow ◽

Carotid Artery ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

4D Flow Mri ◽

4D Flow ◽

Carotid Artery Bifurcation ◽

Flow Mri ◽

Human Carotid

Purpose: Knowledge of the hemodynamics in the vascular system is important to understand and treat vascular pathology. The present study aimed to evaluate the hemodynamics in the human carotid artery bifurcation measured by four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as compared to computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Methods: This protocol used MRI data of 12 healthy volunteers for the 3D vascular models and 4D flow MRI measurements for the boundary conditions in CFD simulation. We compared the velocities measured at the carotid bifurcation and the 3D velocity streamlines of the carotid arteries obtained by these two methods. Results: There was a good agreement for both maximum and minimum velocity values between the 2 methods for velocity magnitude at the bifurcation plane. However, on the 3D blood flow visualization, secondary flows, and recirculation regions are of poorer quality when visualized through the 4D flow MRI. Conclusion: 4D flow MRI and CFD show reasonable agreement in demonstrated velocity magnitudes at the carotid artery bifurcation. However, the visualization of blood flow at the recirculation regions and the assessment of secondary flow characteristics should be enhanced for the use of 4D flow MRI in clinical situations.

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