Clinical Study of 4D-Flow MRI in Evaluating Abdominal Aortic Compliance in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Motivation: Arterial stiffness is a key predictor of mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Goal(s): Use 4D-Flow MRI to noninvasively evaluate the abdominal aortic compliance in CKD patients. Approach: Thirteen healthy controls and seventy-three CKD patients were enrolled to evaluate the hemodynamic parameters including pulse wave velocity (PWV), peak velocity, and maximum wall shear stress (WSS) for healthy controls and different CKD groups. Results: CKD patients tend to have an increased PWV and a decreased maximum WSS in the abdominal aorta, compared to healthy controls. Correlations between PWV/WSS and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were found. Impact: Our study shows that PWV tends to increase while WSS tends to decrease for CKD patients compared to healthy controls. Indicating that 4D Flow imaging can be used to assess changes in abdominal aortic compliance in CKD patients.