Robert L. Janiczek1, Craig H. Meyer1,2, Scott T. Acton1,3, Brett R. Blackman1, Frederick H. Epstein1,2
1Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA; 2Radiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA; 3Electrical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Atherosclerosis is a focal inflammatory disease of the vessel wall believed to be influenced by local hemodynamic forces such as wall shear stress (WSS). A 4D spiral phase contrast MRI sequence was developed and used for measuring WSS throughout the mouse aortic arch. Short spiral readouts, variable density spirals, and k-space trajectory measurement correction enabled measurement of the entire hemodynamic environment in the mouse aortic arch. The spatial distribution of WSS showed higher WSS values near the outer radius, an atheroprotective region, and lower WSS values near the inner radius of the aortic arch, an atheroprone region.