Development and Validation of Software for the Three-dimensional Quantification and Visualization of Blood Flow Hemodynamics in Patients with Aortic Insufficiency using 4D flow MRI.

The most common cause of chronic aortic insufficiency (AI), a backwards leaking of blood through the aortic valve, are congenital valve disease, degenerative valve disease, and primary diseases of the surrounding aorta. Current management of severe AI is to surgically replace the valve based upon generic 2D imaging measures of severity and progression. However, 4D MRI flow has been recently introduced and may offer a paradigm shift in the ability to characterize AI, particularly due to different disease states. As such, improved decision-making regarding the need and the timing of surgical intervention may be feasible. In partnership with Circle Cardiovascular Inc., we aim to: a) establish a novel software environment for the pre-processing and analysis of 4D flow MRI data; b) validate flow quantification using an in-vitro model of AI; and c) validate in-vivo accuracy and reproducibility of 4D MRI flow in patients with severe AI across various disease states.

Faculty Supervisor:

James White

Student:

JULIO GARCIA FLORES

Partner:

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Calgary