Purpose: Knowledge of the hemodynamics in the vascular system is important to understand\nand treat vascular pathology. The present study aimed to evaluate the hemodynamics in the human\ncarotid artery bifurcation measured by four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging\n(MRI) as compared to computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Methods: This protocol used MRI data of\n12 healthy volunteers for the 3D vascular models and 4D flow MRI measurements for the boundary\nconditions in CFD simulation. We compared the velocities measured at the carotid bifurcation and\nthe 3D velocity streamlines of the carotid arteries obtained by these two methods. Results: There was\na good agreement for both maximum and minimum velocity values between the 2 methods for\nvelocity magnitude at the bifurcation plane. However, on the 3D blood flow visualization, secondary\nflows, and recirculation regions are of poorer quality when visualized through the 4D flow MRI.\nConclusion: 4D flow MRI and CFD show reasonable agreement in demonstrated velocity magnitudes\nat the carotid artery bifurcation. However, the visualization of blood flow at the recirculation regions\nand the assessment of secondary flow characteristics should be enhanced for the use of 4D flow MRI\nin clinical situations.
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