Abstract #3930

Quantification of Aortic Motion in Wild-Type and Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice Using Time Resolved MR Angiography: Possible Correlation Between Direction of Vessel Motion and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Bulging

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.