Author(s)

Mohamad Ayham Darwich^1*, François Langevin², Khaldoun Darwich³

¹Faculty of Technical Engineering, Tartus University, Tartus, Syria.
²Advanced Medical Imaging Center, University of Technology of Compiègne, Compiègne, France.
³Faculty of Dentistry, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.

The current study presents a new protocol for local pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurement using dynamic MR sequences, which have a high temporal resolution (TR < 6 ms). MR images were obtained at two positions along the common carotid artery, separated by a distance of 5 cm. In each phase of a MR series, carotid region was automatically extracted and then its area distension waveform could be obtained. Sixteen volunteers with no symptoms of cardiovascular diseases were studied. For local PWV estimation, three delay estimation principles were tested and produced the following values: intersecting tangents method (M1): 4.72 ± 1.40 m/s, second derivative method (M2): 4.94 ± 1.68 m/s and cross-correlation method (M3): 5.03 ± 1.17 m/s. The cross-correlation method showed a relative high reliability as its least standard deviation.

Local Pulse Wave Velocity, Arterial Elasticity, Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Darwich, M. , Langevin, F. and Darwich, K. (2015) Local Pulse Wave Velocity Estimation in the Carotids Using Dynamic MR Sequences. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 8, 227-236. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2015.84022.