Quantifying Blood Flow in the Aorta

Velocity fields will be acquired, consisting of vectors that describe the velocity magnitude (cm/s) and direction (dimensionless) of blood flow in the aorta. For visualisation purposes, arrows will be used to overlay the shape of the volunteers aorta. Colours of the arrrows indicate the velocity magnitude and direction of the arrows inicate the direction of flow. Velocity fields are generated for the the full aorta, from the ascending aorta to internal/external iliac arteries, including branched arteries such as subclavian arteries, common carotid artery, and visceral branch vessels.

Age of volunteer (in years) for division into groups based on gender and age, gathered using a questionnaire.

Gender of volunteer (male/female/other) for division into groups based on gender and age, gathered using a questionnaire.

Height (in m) for BMI (in kg/m^2) calculation, gathered using a questionnaire.

Weight (in kg) for BMI (in kg/m^2) calculation, gathered using a questionnaire.

Waveforms will be acquired that show how aortic blood flow in a certain region of interest progresses over the cardiac cycle, presented as plots of velocity magnitude (cm/s) over time (s). Regions of interest are selected in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, carotid arteries, subclavian arteries, renal arteries, suprarenal aorta, abdominal aorta, common iliac arteries, internal iliac arteries, and external iliac arteries.

Wall shear stress (Pa) is a hemodynamic parameter expressing the force acting on a certain area of the vessel wall by the flow of blood. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.

Oscillatory Shear Index (dimensionless) is a hemodynamic parameter that defines how much the wall shear stress field changes directions over time, which can tell something about whether the forces on the wall (and the flow of blood) are more uniform or more complex. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.

Kinetic Energy (J) in the field of fluid mechanics describes the energy related to the flow of blood in a certain region of interest with a certain mass or volume. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.

Turbulent Kinetic Energy (J/kg) is a hemodynamic parameter describing the energy related to the fluctuations in blood flow velocity. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.

Helicity (m^4/s^2) is a hemodynamic parameter that describes how much the blood flow follows a corkscrew-like pattern. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.

Vorticity (s^-1) is a hemodynamic parameter that reflects the rotational nature of the blood flow. This parameter will be extracted from the blood flow velocity vectors in a certain region of interest (e.g. in the ascending aorta, descending aorta, renal arteries, or iliac arteries) and will be plotted over the cardiac cycle.