A 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance study of flow asymmetry and haemodynamic quantity correlations in the pulmonary artery.

Objective: In this paper we elucidate the asymmetric flow pattern and the haemodynamic quantity distributions and correlations in the pulmonary artery (PA) vasculature in healthy adults having structurally normal hearts, to provide reference on the flow characteristics in the PA and the right ventricle.

Approach: Velocity data are acquired non-invasively from 18 healthy volunteers by 4D flow magnetic resonance imaging, resolved to 20 phases with spatial resolution 3 × 3 × 3 mm. Interpolation is applied to improve the accuracy in quantifying haemodynamic quantities including kinetic energy, rotational energy, helicity and energy dissipation rate.