Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the study population.
Figure 1.
PH-associated vortical blood flow in the main pulmonary artery (MPA) in 3D vector (A), MPR vector (B), streamline (C) and particle trace (D) visualization together with schematic drawings of identification criteria of this flow pattern in 3D vector (E), MPR vector (F), streamline (G) and particle trace (H) visualization.
PV: pulmonary valve, RV: right ventricle.
Table 2.
Interobserver variability in determination of tvortex, tstart and tend from different flow visualizations in patients with PH (n = 23).
Figure 2.
Bland-Altman plots of vortex duration (tvortex) determined from MPR vector (A), streamline (B) and particle trace (C) visualization compared to tvortex determined by 3D vector visualization for all patients (n = 50).
SD denotes standard deviation of measurement differences.
Table 3.
Mean values and standard deviations of tvortex, tstart and tend derived from different flow visualizations in patients with PH (n = 23).
Table 4.
Comparison of tvortex, tstart and tend determined from MPR-vector, streamline and particle trace visualizations with the same parameters determined from 3D vector visualization in patients with PH (n = 23).
Figure 3.
ROC curves for the diagnosis of manifest PH employing vortex duration (tvortex) determined from 3D vector, MPR vector, streamline and particle trace visualization.
Table 5.
Cut-off values of tvortex determined from 3D vector, MPR-vector, streamline and particle trace visualizations for non-invasive diagnosis of PH.
Figure 4.
Scatter plot and linear regression lines of mPAP and vortex duration (tvortex) determined from 3D vector (A), MPR vector (B), streamline (C) and particle trace (D) visualization for patients with PH (n = 23).
Regression equations are to be understood in mmHg. SD denotes standard deviation from regression line.
Figure 5.
Helical blood flow in the main pulmonary artery mimicking PH-associated vortical blood flow in MPR vector representation (A).
The same perspective in 3D vector visualization is not interpreted as showing a PH-associated vortex (B). Rotation of perspective (C) indicates the helical character of the blood flow. RV: right ventricle, PV: pulmonary valve, MPA: main pulmonary artery.
Figure 6.
Blood flow patterns in the main pulmonary artery of a patient with PH in streamline (A, B) and 3D vector visualization (C, D) in two consecutive systolic cardiac phases.
Onset of vertical blood flow tstart is defined later in streamline (B) than in 3D vector visualization (C). RV: right ventricle, PV: pulmonary valve, MPA: main pulmonary artery.