Blood flow in the aorta is complex, being affected by both the geometry of the aorta and flow dynamics stemmed from the left ventricle. It has been suggested that such a complex flow plays an important role in the localization of vascular diseases such as aortic aneuysm and arteriosclerosis. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the inflow and geometry of the aorta on the aortic flow. We measured the velocity profile at a site just above the aortic valve using cine phase contrast MRI (PC-MRI), and then performed CFD analysis of blood flow in the aorta using the measured velocity as an inlet boundary condition. The results showed that the geometry of the aorta is influential in the hemodynamics in the whole region of the aorta while the effect of the aortic inflow remains up to the aortic arch.
