Many Aortic valve disease (AVD) such as stenosis, insufficiency, or congenital defect can severely disrupt normal function of the left ventricle (LV) and aorta. However, the role of AVD and the development of concomitant myocardial dysfunction and aortopathy are not fully understood nor sufficiently characterized. Paradoxically, it is well known that similarly classified AVD patients under the ACC/AHA guidelines can have radically divergent outcomes - implying an incomplete characterization of the disease. To address these limitations, this career development award (CDA) is designed to leverage the PI's quantitative background in fluid dynamics, imaging physics, and cardiovascular imaging in order to further understand the mechanisms leading to LV dysfunction and aortopathy with the ultimate goal to improve AVD risk stratification. The CDA will be used to further the PI's trainin in translational clinical science through formal training in Clinical Investigation and specialized mentor oversight of the research plan, specifically in the areas of cardiology, cardiac surgery, tissue characterization and cardiac standard-of-care imaging. These training activities play into the PI's career goal to become a cross-disciplinary independent investigator at the intersection of cardiovascular hemodynamics, imaging physics, and cardiovascular outcomes research. The research project proposes the development of a comprehensive MRI exam to integrate valve geometry and function with the resulting aortic hemodynamics and energetics. It will be executed according to specific aims tailored to: (1) develop and optimize a MRI protocol designed to obtain aortic valve dynamics, aortic 3D blood flow, blood acceleration fields, and thus high SNR regional wall shear stress (WSS) and energy loss measures; (2) characterize the sensitivity of the measurements in healthy and disease states using physiologic flow phantoms and in-vivo test-retest reliability; (3) perform a longitudinal patient study aimed to correlate energy loss and WSS to outcomes and disease progression in a patient population consisting of moderate to severe aortic valve stenosis subjects. These development activities form a basis for the PI to translate his fluid dynamics and cardiovascular imaging research portfolio into an independent program focusing on the need for better risk-stratification and interventional timing in AVD patients. Additionally, novel insights into the mechanistic role of flow conditions on aortopathy and LV dysfunction will be investigated.

Public Health Relevance

It is our goal to determine which patients are most at-risk for severe complications related to the malfunctioning aortic valve. It is crucial to intervene before the patient suffers permanent damage or even death; however, the current recommended AHA standards are vague in defining exactly when, why, or if this intervention should happen. Therefore we are investigating: 1) is there a mechanistic or biophysical role for altered blood flow to influence cardiovascular dysfunction, and, 2) which measures most accurately represent the excess load placed on the heart and vessels for prognostic purposes.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25)
Project #
5K25HL119608-04
Application #
9285866
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1)
Program Officer
Wang, Wayne C
Project Start
2014-05-01
Project End
2019-04-30
Budget Start
2017-05-01
Budget End
2018-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611
Bollache, Emilie; Guzzardi, David G; Sattari, Samaneh et al. (2018) Aortic valve-mediated wall shear stress is heterogeneous and predicts regional aortic elastic fiber thinning in bicuspid aortic valve-associated aortopathy. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 156:2112-2120.e2
Shen, Xin; Schnell, Susanne; Barker, Alex J et al. (2018) Voxel-by-voxel 4D flow MRI-based assessment of regional reverse flow in the aorta. J Magn Reson Imaging 47:1276-1286
Robinson, Joshua D; Rose, Michael J; Joh, Maria et al. (2018) 4-D flow magnetic-resonance-imaging-derived energetic biomarkers are abnormal in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot and associated with disease severity. Pediatr Radiol :
Raghav, Vrishank; Barker, Alex J; Mangiameli, Daniel et al. (2018) Valve mediated hemodynamics and their association with distal ascending aortic diameter in bicuspid aortic valve subjects. J Magn Reson Imaging 47:246-254
Bollache, Emilie; Barker, Alex J; Dolan, Ryan Scott et al. (2018) k-t accelerated aortic 4D flow MRI in under two minutes: Feasibility and impact of resolution, k-space sampling patterns, and respiratory navigator gating on hemodynamic measurements. Magn Reson Med 79:195-207
Bollache, Emilie; Fedak, Paul W M; van Ooij, Pim et al. (2018) Perioperative evaluation of regional aortic wall shear stress patterns in patients undergoing aortic valve and/or proximal thoracic aortic replacement. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 155:2277-2286.e2
Garcia, Julio; van der Palen, Roel L F; Bollache, Emilie et al. (2018) Distribution of blood flow velocity in the normal aorta: Effect of age and gender. J Magn Reson Imaging 47:487-498
Ma, Liliana E; Vali, Alireza; Blanken, Carmen et al. (2018) Altered Aortic 3-Dimensional Hemodynamics in Patients With Functionally Unicuspid Aortic Valves. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 11:e007915
Geiger, Julia; Rahsepar, Amir A; Suwa, Kenichiro et al. (2018) 4D flow MRI, cardiac function, and T1 -mapping: Association of valve-mediated changes in aortic hemodynamics with left ventricular remodeling. J Magn Reson Imaging 48:121-131
van Ooij, Pim; Markl, Michael; Collins, Jeremy D et al. (2017) 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 6:

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