Craig J. Goergen1, Maj Hedehus2, Charles A. Taylor1, Philip S. Tsao3, Joan M. Greve2
1Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 2Biomedical Imaging, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA; 3Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
The purpose of this study was to develop MR imaging methods to characterize aortic motion in mice. Using a 2D time-of-flight sequence, circumferential cyclic strain and direction of centroid motion were measured at four locations. The data presented suggests that aortic dynamics differ greatly above and below the renal arteries, with considerable leftward directionality of motion in the suprarenal region. These results are intriguing as this location is precisely where we observed leftward expansion in the angiotensin II/apolipoprotein E-deficient mouse abdominal aortic aneurysm model, suggesting a relationship between the direction of aortic motion and the shape of these aneurysms.