Automated quantification of flow velocity and volume in the ascending and descending aorta using flow velocity mapping

MR flow velocity mapping is a non-invasive imaging technique for the quantification of velocity and flow in vessel cross-sections. Integrating the instantaneous flow values over the complete cardiac cycle results in accurate assessment of stroke volumes through a particular vessel cross-section. Currently, manual contour tracing methods are used to delineate the vessel borders in each individual time frame. An automated method has been developed which corrects both for motion and shape changes of the vessel over the cardiac cycle. The results of the automated method were compared to results derived from manually traced contours in studies of the ascending and descending aorta from ten healthy volunteers. An excellent agreement in stroke volume measurements was observed (correlation coefficient 0.99). The average analysis time per study was less than 10 seconds.