Patient-Specific Study Of Stress Area Of The Pathological Aorta. A Combined 4D Flow MRI - Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis

Abstract

A methodology allowing a combined analysis of pathological human thoracic aorta (TA) using both 4D flow MRI and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presented. MR images from patient with aneurysm have been acquired with a 4D Flow MRI sequence. The segmentation of the aorta has been performed on the PCMRA image. A volumetric tetrahedral mesh with one inlet and four outlets was generated. In CFD simulations, blood density and viscosity were assumed to be 1060kg/m3 and 4.10-3 Pa.s, respectively. MRI velocity measurements have been used as boundary conditions. CFD simulations have been compared to MRI measurements both qualitatively and quantitatively. A visual evaluation using streamlines and volumetric flow rates at the outlets show good agreements. Moreover, hemodynamics parameters such as WSS have been computed and allow for the evaluation of stress areas. A methodology for a combined analysis of TA taking advantage of both MRI and CFD was proposed.