Development of pulsatile circulatory system for measuring ascending aorta hemodynamics with 4D-MRI

Abstract

Bicuspid aortic valve disease is a common congenital valvular disease. There are several variations in valve morphology and its relationship with ascending aortic dilation is not clear. In this study, we newly developed a pulsatile circulatory system to investigate flow in ascending aorta using 4D-MRI. The simulator consists of the silicone-made left ventricle, aortic valve chamber, aortic arch, compliance tank, and reservoir. The aortic valve model was fabricated using bovine aorta and pericardium and installed in the valve chamber. Pulsatile pressure and flow were pneumatically generated and controlled by peripheral resistive unit. A tricuspid aortic valve model was investigated by 4D-MRI. In the ascending aorta, straight flow was observed in early-systole and physiological clockwise-twisted flow was observed in late-systole respectively. Therefore, the pulsatile circulatory system developed in this study can be useful for revealing the relationship between bicuspid valve morphology and flow pattern in ascending aorta.