Calculation of Mechanical Properties of the Inter-Luminal Septum in DeBakey Type III Aortic Dissection from the Behavior of P-Waves Detected by Cine MRI : Application of Seismic Technology onto Medical Image Data

Pietro Valsecchi¹, Christof Karmonik^2,3, Jean Bismuth², Mark G. Davies², Dipan J. Shah², Bill E. Kline¹, Alan B. Lumsden²

High post-treatment mortality rates in DeBakey type III aortic dissections (AD) (20% in 3 years after hospital discharge) necessitates a better understanding of biomechanical properties of true (TL) and false lumen (FL) wall for the development of effective treatment. In an effort to create synergy between know-how in the energy industry and the medical community, we took advantage of established seismology techniques to estimate stiffness of the AD intra-luminal septum (IS) using the wall pressure wave. From this, Young's modulus of the IS was found to be approximately a factor 50 lower compared to literature values for healthy aortic wall.