Assessment of hemodynamic parameters using 4D Flow MRI
Abstract: Heart disease is one of the worldwide leading causes of death, and facilitating the work of physicians in this area is therefore of great importance. Imaging of the heart is one of many fields that is used for diagnosis and analysis of cardiac disease. Within this field, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive technique that allows for acquisition of high quality images. Blood flow throughout the healthy human body seems to follow certain patterns. Changes in the blood flow behaviour through the heart can be observed in the presence of cardiac disease. For the cardiac system, blood flow and parameters related to blood flow are important markers for such disease. This thesis aims to create a tool that uses blood flow data obtained from four-dimensional Flow MRI (4D Flow MRI) to calculate and assess hemodynamic (blood flow related) parameters that reflect such alterations in blood flow. This hemodynamic assessment tool allows for easy visualisation and comparison of parameters in different regions of the heart, including the four cardiac chambers, aorta and pulmonary artery. Furthermore, the output of the tool allows for statistical analysis of hemodynamic parameters. The tool was applied to a cohort of 4D Flow data sets. Examples of parameter visualisations are provided, and a statistical analysis of the parameters with regards to left ventricular ejection fraction was performed. This analysis was performed using self-organising feature maps, but did not show any significant results. This may be due to the heterogeneity of the data however, and not due to the tool in itself.
AT THIS PAGE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ESSAY. (follow the link to the next page)