Combining magnetic resonance measurements with numerical simulations – Extracting blood flow physiology information relevant to the investigation of intracranial aneurysms in the circle of Willis

Cerebral aneurysms in the region of the circle of Willis have an incidence of 3–6% in western populations and involve the risk of rupture with subsequent subarachnoidal bleeding. The patient specific blood flow patterns are of substantial importance for understanding the pathogenesis of the lesions and may eventually contribute to deciding on the most efficient treatment procedure for a specific patient.A non-invasive method for performing in vivo measurements on blood velocity is 4D phase-contrast magnetic resonance angiography (PC-MRA), on the basis of which a flow field with all its parameters can be simulated. We are using this approach to investigate the hemodynamic parameters in the circle of Willis and, by analyzing the values at common locations of aneurysms, trying to find potential parameters to predict the development of aneurysms. Methodologically, we are acquiring the artery geometry with 3D-time-of-flight magnetic resonance (TOF) measurements and the blood velocity in the feeding arteries with 4D PC-MRA measurements in a healthy volunteer. These measurements are combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to describe detailed hemodynamic patterns within the circle of Willis.