Velocity quantification in 44 healthy volunteers using accelerated multi-VENC 4D flow CMR

Jan Robert Kroeger; Francesca Claudia Pavesio; Richard Mörsdorf; Kilian Weiss; Alexander Christian Bunck; Bettina Baeßler; David Maintz; Daniel Giese

doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109570

Velocity quantification in 44 healthy volunteers using accelerated multi-VENC 4D flow CMR

Eur J Radiol. 2021 Apr:137:109570. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109570. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Authors

Jan Robert Kroeger¹, Francesca Claudia Pavesio², Richard Mörsdorf³, Kilian Weiss⁴, Alexander Christian Bunck⁵, Bettina Baeßler⁶, David Maintz⁷, Daniel Giese⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Electronic address: janrobert.kroeger@muehlenkreiskliniken.de.
² Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: f.pavesio@khporz.de.
³ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: rmoersdorf@gmx.de.
⁴ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Philips GmbH, Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: kilian.weiss@philips.com.
⁵ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: alexander.bunck@uk-koeln.de.
⁶ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: Bettina.Baessler@usz.ch.
⁷ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: david.maintz@uk-koeln.de.
⁸ Department of Radiology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: giesedaniel@gmail.com.

PMID: 33596498
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109570

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the feasibility of a k-t accelerated multi-VENC 4D phase contrast flow MRI acquisition of the main heart-surrounding vessels, its benefits over a traditional single-VENC acquisition and to present reference flow and velocity values in a large cohort of volunteers.

Methods: 44 healthy volunteers were examined on a 3 T MRI scanner (Ingenia, Philips, Best, The Netherlands). 4D flow measurements were obtained with a FOV including the aorta and the pulmonary arteries. VENC values were set to 40, 100 and 200 cm/s and unfolded based on an MRI signal model. Unfolded multi-VENC data was compared to the single-VENC with VENC 200 cm/s. Flow and velocity quantification was performed in several regions of interest (ROI) placed in the ascending aorta and in the main pulmonary artery. Conservation of mass analysis was performed for single- and multi-VENC datasets. Values for mean and maximal flow velocity and stroke volume were calculated and compared to the literature.

Results: Mean scan time was 13.8 ± 4 min. Differences between stroke volumes between the ascending aorta and the main pulmonary artery were significantly lower in multi-VENC datasets compared to single-VENC datasets (9.6 ± 7.8 mL vs. 25.4 ± 26.4 mL, p < 0.001). This was also true for differences in stroke volume between up- and downstream ROIs in the ascending aorta and pulmonary artery. Values for mean and maximal velocities and stroke volume were in-line with previous studies. To highlight potential clinical applications two exemplary 4D flow measurements in patients with different pathologies are shown and compared to single-VENC datasets.

Conclusions: k-t accelerated multi-VENC 4D phase contrast flow MRI acquisition of the great vessels is feasible in a clinically acceptable scan duration. It offers improvements over traditional single-VENC 4D flow, expectedly being valuable when vessels with different flow velocities or complex flow phenomena are evaluated.

Keywords: 4D flow; Multi-VENC; Reference hemodynamic values; k-t PCA.

MeSH terms

Blood Flow Velocity
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Imaging, Three-Dimensional*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Netherlands
Reproducibility of Results