Bradley D. Allen1,
Alex J. Barker1, Julio Garcia1, Maya Gabbour2,
Miachael Markl1, 3, Cynthia K. Rigsby, 12,
Joshua D. Robinson4, 5
1Department
of Radiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States; 2Department
of Medical Imaging, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, United States; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States; 4Department
of Pediatrics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States; 5Department
of Cardiology, Ann & Robert H Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, United States
The aim of the current study is to assess the impact of aortic coarctation on aortic 3D blood flow characteristics in a cohort of pediatric, young adult, and adult patients compared to a control group without coarctation, as matched for age, valve morphology and aortic diameter. Results demonstrate that the presence of coarctation or coarctation repair alters blood flow hemodynamics along the entire thoracic aorta. The coarctation group had significantly higher grade helical flow in all regions of the aorta, and the subgroup of non-repaired coarctation had higher grade helical flow than repaired coarctation.