Automated and accurate measurement of aortic pulse wave velocity using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Arterial stiffness is thought to be a powerful indicator of present and possible future cardiovascular risk. Accordingly, there is an increasing interest in the non-invasive clinical measurement of arterial stiffness. The commonly used non-invasive methods assess aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) which is known to be a good indicator of aortic stiffness. These methods calculate the PWV by measuring the pressure or flow velocity at two locations along the aorta to determine the arrival time of the pulse wave; the distance between these locations is measured either on the body surface or using high resolution images. In this study, we have developed a novel method based on MRI that calculates the aortic PWV using multiple locations along the aorta. This approach is largely automatic vis-a-vis aortic segmentation that reduces user-subjectivity; the inclusion of multiple points along aorta increases the accuracy of PWV measurement by averaging.