Phase-shift-based MR angiography can detect secondary flow motions in the common carotid artery, which are influenced by cervical spine flexion.
Dynamic MR angiography may reveal posture-dependent carotid flows in individual cases; hypothesis-generating and should not change practice without further study.
The blood flow in arteries affects both the biology of the vessels and the development of atherosclerosis. The flow is three-dimensional, unsteady, and difficult to measure or to model computationally. We have used phase-shift-based magnetic resonance angiography to image and measure the flow in the common carotid arteries of a healthy human subject. There was curvature of the vessels and thin-slice dynamic flow imaging showed evidence of the presence of secondary motions. Flexing the cervical spine straightened the vessels and reduced the asymmetry of the flow.
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G. et al. (1992) studied this question.
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