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Valve Disease and Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Valve Disease and Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common congenital cardiac defect, affecting 1-2% of the population. Current guidelines rely on diameter measurements, despite evidence that hemodynamic factors also play a role in disease progression. We are utilizing 4D flow MRI to elucidate the relationship between anatomic factors, altered hemodynamics, and disease progression. As part of our efforts to characterize patients with BAV and other valve abnormalities, we calculate the wall shear stress (WSS) in the aorta of these patients from our 4D flow MRI data. This allows us to generate ensemble averages of different cohorts for comparison, and to compare with a cohort of healthy controls.

Investigators: Alex Barker (PhD), Michael Markl (PhD)

Funding: American Heart Association, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH.

Publications:

  1. Ma, Liliana E., et al. “Altered Aortic 3-Dimensional Hemodynamics in Patients With Functionally Unicuspid Aortic Valves.” Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging 11.8 (2018): e007915. [Pubmed Link]

  2. van Ooij P, Markl M, Collins JD, Carr JC, Rigsby C, Bonow RO, Malaisrie SC, McCarthy PM, Fedak PWM, Barker AJ: Aortic Valve Stenosis Alters Expression of Regional Aortic Wall Shear Stress: New Insights From a 4-Dimensional Flow Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of 571 Subjects. J Am Heart Assoc 2017, 6(9). [Pubmed Link]

  3. van Ooij P, Potters WV, Collins J, Carr M, Carr J, Malaisrie SC, Fedak PW, McCarthy PM, Markl M, Barker AJ: Characterization of abnormal wall shear stress using 4D flow MRI in human bicuspid aortopathy. Ann Biomed Eng 2015, 43(6):1385-1397. [Pubmed Link]