1. |
- Bissell, Malenka M., et al.
(author)
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4D Flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance consensus statement : 2023 update
- 2023
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In: Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. - : BMC. - 1097-6647 .- 1532-429X. ; 25:1
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hemodynamic assessment is an integral part of the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. Four-dimensional cardiovascular magnetic resonance flow imaging (4D Flow CMR) allows comprehensive and accurate assessment of flow in a single acquisition. This consensus paper is an update from the 2015 ‘4D Flow CMR Consensus Statement’. We elaborate on 4D Flow CMR sequence options and imaging considerations. The document aims to assist centers starting out with 4D Flow CMR of the heart and great vessels with advice on acquisition parameters, post-processing workflows and integration into clinical practice. Furthermore, we define minimum quality assurance and validation standards for clinical centers. We also address the challenges faced in quality assurance and validation in the research setting. We also include a checklist for recommended publication standards, specifically for 4D Flow CMR. Finally, we discuss the current limitations and the future of 4D Flow CMR. This updated consensus paper will further facilitate widespread adoption of 4D Flow CMR in the clinical workflow across the globe and aid consistently high-quality publication standards.
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2. |
- Dyverfeldt, Petter, et al.
(author)
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4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance consensus statement
- 2015
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In: Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. - : BioMed Central / Informa Healthcare. - 1097-6647 .- 1532-429X. ; 17:72
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pulsatile blood flow through the cavities of the heart and great vessels is time-varying and multidirectional. Access to all regions, phases and directions of cardiovascular flows has formerly been limited. Four-dimensional (4D) flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has enabled more comprehensive access to such flows, with typical spatial resolution of 1.5x1.5x1.5 - 3x3x3 mm(3), typical temporal resolution of 30-40 ms, and acquisition times in the order of 5 to 25 min. This consensus paper is the work of physicists, physicians and biomedical engineers, active in the development and implementation of 4D Flow CMR, who have repeatedly met to share experience and ideas. The paper aims to assist understanding of acquisition and analysis methods, and their potential clinical applications with a focus on the heart and greater vessels. We describe that 4D Flow CMR can be clinically advantageous because placement of a single acquisition volume is straightforward and enables flow through any plane across it to be calculated retrospectively and with good accuracy. We also specify research and development goals that have yet to be satisfactorily achieved. Derived flow parameters, generally needing further development or validation for clinical use, include measurements of wall shear stress, pressure difference, turbulent kinetic energy, and intracardiac flow components. The dependence of measurement accuracy on acquisition parameters is considered, as are the uses of different visualization strategies for appropriate representation of time-varying multidirectional flow fields. Finally, we offer suggestions for more consistent, user-friendly implementation of 4D Flow CMR acquisition and data handling with a view to multicenter studies and more widespread adoption of the approach in routine clinical investigations.
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3. |
- Bustamante, Mariana, 1983-
(author)
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Automated Assessment of Blood Flow in the Cardiovascular System Using 4D Flow MRI
- 2018
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Medical image analysis focuses on the extraction of meaningful information from medical images in order to facilitate clinical assessment, diagnostics and treatment. Image processing techniques have gradually become an essential part of the modern health care system, a consequence of the continuous technological improvements and the availability of a variety of medical imaging techniques.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique that stands out as non-invasive, highly versatile, and capable of generating high quality images without the use of ionizing radiation. MRI is frequently performed in the clinical setting to assess the morphology and function of the heart and vessels. When focusing on the cardiovascular system, blood flow visualization and quantification is essential in order to fully understand and identify related pathologies. Among the variety of MR techniques available for cardiac imaging, 4D Flow MRI allows for full three-dimensional spatial coverage over time, also including three-directional velocity information. It is a very powerful technique that can be used for retrospective analysis of blood flow dynamics at any location in the acquired volume.In the clinical routine, however, flow analysis is typically done using two-dimensional imaging methods. This can be explained by their shorter acquisition times, higher in-plane spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, and their relatively simpler post-processing requirements when compared to 4D Flow MRI. The extraction of useful knowledge from 4D Flow MR data is especially challenging due to the large amount of information included in these images, and typically requires substantial user interaction.This thesis aims to develop and evaluate techniques that facilitate the post-processing of thoracic 4D Flow MRI by automating the steps necessary to obtain hemodynamic parameters of interest from the data. The proposed methods require little to no user interaction, are fairly quick, make effective use of the information available in the four-dimensional images, and can easily be applied to sizable groups of data.The addition of the proposed techniques to the current pipeline of 4D Flow MRI analysis simplifies and expedites the assessment of these images, thus bringing them closer to the clinical routine.
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4. |
- Echternach, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Professional Opera Tenors' Vocal Tract Configurations in Registers
- 2010
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In: Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica. - : S. Karger AG. - 1021-7762 .- 1421-9972. ; 62:6, s. 278-287
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Tenor singers may reach their top pitch range either by shifting from modal to falsetto register or by using their so-called 'voix mixte'. Material and Methods: In this study, dynamic real-time MRI of 8 frames per second was used to analyze the vocal tract profile in 10 professional opera tenors, who sang an ascending scale from C4 (262 Hz) to A4 (440 Hz) on the vowel /a/. The scale included their register transition and the singers applied both register techniques in different takes. Results: Modal to falsetto register changes were associated with only minor vocal tract modifications, including elevation and tilting of the larynx and a lifted tongue dorsum. Transitions to voix mixte, by contrast, were associated with major vocal tract modifications. Under these conditions, the subjects widened their pharynges, their lip and jaw openings, and increased their jaw protrusion. These modifications were stronger in more 'heavy' tenors than in more 'light' tenors. The acoustic consequences of these articulatory changes are discussed.
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5. |
- Echternach, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Vocal tract and register changes analysed by real-time MRI in male professional singers - a pilot study
- 2008
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In: Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1401-5439 .- 1651-2022. ; 33:2, s. 67-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Changes of vocal tract shape accompanying changes of vocal register and pitch in singing have remained an unclear field. Dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was applied to two professional classical singers (a tenor and a baritone) in this pilot study. The singers sang ascending scales from B3 to G#4 on the vowel /a/, keeping the modal register throughout or shifting to falsetto register for the highest pitches. The results show that these singers made few and minor modifications of vocal tract shape when they changed from modal to falsetto and some clear modifications when they kept the register. In this case the baritone increased his tongue dorsum height, widened his jaw opening, and decreased his jaw protrusion, while the tenor merely lifted his uvula. The method used seems promising and should be applied to a greater number of singer subjects in the future.
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6. |
- Echternach, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Vocal tract area functions and formant frequencies in opera tenors' modal and falsetto registers
- 2011
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In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. - : Acoustical Society of America (ASA). - 0001-4966 .- 1520-8524. ; 129:6, s. 3955-3963
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- According to recent model investigations, vocal tract resonance is relevant to vocal registers. However, no experimental corroboration of this claim has been published so far. In the present investigation, ten professional tenors' vocal tract configurations were analyzed using MRI volumetry. All subjects produced a sustained tone on the pitch F4 (349 Hz) on the vowel /a/(1) in modal and (2) in falsetto register. The area functions were estimated from the MRI data and their associated formant frequencies were calculated. In a second condition the same subjects repeated the same tasks in a sound treated room and their formant frequencies were estimated by means of inverse filtering. In both recordings similar formant frequencies were observed. Vocal tract shapes differed between modal and falsetto register. In modal as compared to falsetto the lip opening and the oral cavity were wider and the first formant frequency was higher. In this sense the presented results are in agreement with the claim that the formant frequencies differ between registers.
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7. |
- Echternach, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Vocal Tract in Female Registers : A Dynamic Real-Time MRI Study
- 2010
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In: Journal of Voice. - : Elsevier BV. - 0892-1997 .- 1873-4588. ; 24:2, s. 133-139
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The area of vocal registers is still unclarified. In a previous investigation, dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is able to produce up to 10 frames per second, was successfully applied for examinations of vocal tract modifications in register transitions in male singers. In the present study, the same MRI technique was used to study vocal tract shapes during four professional young sopranos' lower and upper register transitions. The subjects were asked to sing a scale on the vowel /a/ across their transitions. The transitions were acoustically identified by four raters. In neither of these transitions, clear vocal tract changes could be ascertained. However, substantial changes, that is, widening of the lips, opening of the jaw, elevation of the tongue dorsum, and continuous widening of the pharynx, were observed when the singers reached fundamental frequencies that were close to the frequency of the first formant of the vowel sung. These findings suggest that in these subjects register transition was not primarily the result of modifications of the vocal tract.
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8. |
- Markl, Michael, et al.
(author)
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Comprehensive 4D velocity mapping of the heart and great vessels by cardiovascular magnetic resonance
- 2011
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In: JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE. - : Taylor andamp; Francis / BioMed Central. - 1097-6647. ; 13:7
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is able to measure all three directional components of the velocities of blood flow relative to the three spatial dimensions and the time course of the heart cycle. In this article, methods used for the acquisition, visualization, and quantification of such datasets are reviewed and illustrated. Methods: Currently, the acquisition of 3D cine (4D) phase contrast velocity data, synchronized relative to both cardiac and respiratory movements takes about ten minutes or more, even when using parallel imaging and optimized pulse sequence design. The large resulting datasets need appropriate post processing for the visualization of multidirectional flow, for example as vector fields, pathlines or streamlines, or for retrospective volumetric quantification. Applications: Multidirectional velocity acquisitions have provided 3D visualization of large scale flow features of the healthy heart and great vessels, and have shown altered patterns of flow in abnormal chambers and vessels. Clinically relevant examples include retrograde streams in atheromatous descending aortas as potential thromboembolic pathways in patients with cryptogenic stroke and marked variations of flow visualized in common aortic pathologies. Compared to standard clinical tools, 4D velocity mapping offers the potential for retrospective quantification of flow and other hemodynamic parameters. Conclusions: Multidirectional, 3D cine velocity acquisitions are contributing to the understanding of normal and pathologically altered blood flow features. Although more rapid and user-friendly strategies for acquisition and analysis may be needed before 4D velocity acquisitions come to be adopted in routine clinical CMR, their capacity to measure multidirectional flows throughout a study volume has contributed novel insights into cardiovascular fluid dynamics in health and disease.
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9. |
- Odeen, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Assessing cerebrospinal fluid flow connectivity using 3D gradient echo phase contrast velocity encoded MRI
- 2011
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In: Physiological Measurement. - : IOP Publishing. - 0967-3334 .- 1361-6579. ; 32:4, s. 407-421
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using three-directional velocity encoded 3D gradient echo (GE) phase contrast (PC) imaging to assess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow connectivity in the human brain. Five healthy volunteers were scanned using low velocity sensitivity (V-enc = 0.04-0.05 m s(-1)). Flow-time curves were compared to standard 2D PC scans. The 3D data were used to reconstruct in vivo CSF flow volumes based on time-averaged phase-difference information, and the patency of the CSF flow pathways was assessed using nearest-neighbour connectivity. A pulsatile flow phantom was used to gauge the measurement accuracy of the CSF flow volumes at low flow velocities. Flow connectivity from the lateral ventricles down to the cisterna magna was successfully demonstrated in all volunteers. The phantom tests showed a good distinction between the flow cavities and the background noise. 3D PC imaging results in CSF flow waveforms with similar pulsatility but underestimated peak velocities compared to 2D PC data. 3D time-resolved velocity encoded GE imaging has successfully been applied to assess CSF flow connectivity in normal subjects.
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