Assessment of Pulmonary Arteries Hemodynamics in Athletes with 4D Flow MRI

Motivation: Long-term intense training in athletes can lead to pathological cardiac remodeling (CR) and potential myocardial fibrosis (MF), raising cardiovascular risks. Goal(s): Employ 4D flow MRI to study pulmonary arterial hemodynamics in athletes and explore correlations with CR and MF. Approach: Scanned 121 athletes and 21 controls using 3 T MRI scanner; 4D flow data analysis on CVI42; built machine learning models for differentiation based on cardiovascular conditions. Results: Found significant associations between the altered pulmonary arterial hemodynamics parameters and CR and/or MF. Machine learning models identified athletes with cardiac anomalies. Impact: We indicated that exercise can induce remodeling of the pulmonary circulation in athletes. The evaluation of pulmonary arterial 4D flow hemodynamics parameters can be beneficial for clinical follow-up of athletes.