Abstract #0871

Wigstrm L, Hope T, Draney M, Pelc N, Bolger A, Alley M, Heiberg E, Miller D, Herfkens R

Phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging provides a unique method to accurately estimate velocities within a 3D region during the complete cardiac cycle. This enables studies of flow patterns in the heart and great vessels to provide new physiological insights. An automatic and objective characterization of flow patterns would be of great importance for the definition of normal and abnormal flow. In this study, new image processing and visualization tools have been developed to automatically locate and quantify flow patterns of interest, based on the acquired velocity vector data.