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. 2021 Jun 23;13(3):269-278.
doi: 10.3390/neurolint13030028.

Common Carotid Artery Volume Flow: A Comparison Study between Ultrasound Vector Flow Imaging and Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Andreas Hjelm Brandt  1 , Jacob Bjerring Olesen  2 , Ramin Moshavegh  2 , Jørgen Arendt Jensen  3 , Michael Bachmann Nielsen  1   4 , Kristoffer Lindskov Hansen  1   4
Affiliations

Common Carotid Artery Volume Flow: A Comparison Study between Ultrasound Vector Flow Imaging and Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Andreas Hjelm Brandt et al. Neurol Int. .

Abstract

Volume flow estimation in the common carotid artery (CCA) can assess the absolute hemodynamic effect of a carotid stenosis. The aim of this study was to compare a commercial vector flow imaging (VFI) setup against the reference method magnetic resonance phase contrast angiography (MRA) for volume flow estimation in the CCA. Ten healthy volunteers were scanned with VFI and MRA over the CCA. VFI had an improved precision of 19.2% compared to MRA of 31.9% (p = 0.061). VFI estimated significantly lower volume flow than MRA (mean difference: 63.2 mL/min, p = 0.017), whilst the correlation between VFI and MRA was strong (R2 = 0.81, p < 0.0001). A Bland-Altman plot indicated a systematic bias. After bias correction, the percentage error was reduced from 41.0% to 25.2%. This study indicated that a VFI setup for volume flow estimation is precise and strongly correlated to MRA volume flow estimation, and after correcting for the systematic bias, VFI and MRA become interchangeable.

Keywords: common carotid artery; phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging; vector flow imaging; volume flow.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author J.A.J. developed and patented the method Vector Flow Imaging and earns royalties for the selling of scanners with the Vector Flow Imaging option from BK medical. BK medical employs the authors J.B.O. and R.M. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The VFI estimation setup in the CCA. Volume flow was found by integrating the VFI data along a line perpendicular to the long axis of the CCA. The line was drawn between two markers set by the operator at the intima of the vessel. The direction and velocity magnitude of the blood flow are given by the color wheel and indicated by the superimposed vector arrows.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Transverse 2D time-of-flight sequence of the neck obtained with MRA. An example of volume flow of the right CCA was found within the region of interest (marked red). The MRA volume flow was found from a corresponding through-plane phase contrast MRA sequence (not shown).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Volume flow estimations with VFI and MRA of the CCA evaluated with Bland–Altman and linear regression plots. The lines in the Bland–Altman plot (left) correspond to the mean bias and LOA, while the lines in the linear regression plot (right) correspond to line of best fit and confidence bounds. Notice a larger positive bias for higher volume flows, indicating a systematic bias.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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