Experimental catheter validation of stenotic pressure drops with vWERP using 4D Flow MRI

Motivation: 4D flow MRI is a promising diagnosis tool for studies on intracranial atherosclerosis. Since pressure drops across stenoses could be used for diagnosis, a robust non-invasive technique for regional pressure variations is of great value. Goal(s): To validate stenotic pressure drops estimated using Virtual Work Energy Relative Pressure (vWERP) while taking into account spatial resolution dependency and turbulence. Approach: Relative pressure was estimated at multiple locations in two different stenoses using vWERP and compared with gold-standad catheter measurements. Additionally, tubulent kinetic energy (TKE) was determined. Results: vWERP provided robust estimates of relative pressure and demonstrated excellent agreement with catheter measurements despite high TKE. Impact: This abstract demonstrates a versatile setup to estimate relative pressure in stenoses at pulsatile flow conditions. The influence of spatial resolution and turbulences were investigated. The results may help to implement non-invasive pressure estimations to the clinical routine.