Alejandro Roldn-Alzate1, Scott B. Reeder1,2, Jon G. Keevil3, James R. Runo4, Christopher J. Francois2, Naomi C. Chesler1
1Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 2Radiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 3Cardiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 4Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of the small distal pulmonary arteries characterized by an elevation in pulmonary arterial pressure. Currently, right heart catheterization is the only way to assess the severity of PAH. The relative cross sectional area change of the main pulmonary artery may be a useful non-invasive measure of PAH severity. Here, we use magnetic resonance imaging to measure the cross sectional area of the main pulmonary artery at different times during the cardiac cycle. Preliminary results on the utility of this metric are presented in five PAH patients and compared to four healthy controls