Age-associated changes in 4D flow CMR derived Tricuspid Valvular Flow and Right Ventricular Blood Flow Kinetic Energy

Figures

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  Figure 1. Overview of kinetic energy co-registered maps on short-axis cine.

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  Figure 2. Panel A - scatter plots displaying the significant negative correlation between tricuspid flow E/A velocity ratio and age / right ventricular blood flow kinetic energy ratio and age. Panel B - Bar chart to display the values for 4D flow derived TV stroke volume and right ventricular blood flow E/A kinetic energy ratio. The x-axis denotes an increase in age, and the study population is divided into 5 groups.

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  Figure 3. Box and whisker diagrams to demonstrate the association between age and right ventricular blood flow parameters. RV end-diastolic volume was found to have a significant negative association with age across the 5 age groups. The same was found for RV blood flow early filling KE. TV peak late filling velocity has a significant positive correlation with age across the 5 age groups. The rest of the parameters were found to be none significant when increasing with age.

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  Figure 4. Three line graphs, in participants aged 25, 42 and 73 years old, to demonstrate the three blood flow kinetic energy peaks during the cardiac cycle during diastole and systole. The yellow dot shows the systolic peak of the kinetic energy curve. The blue dot denotes the E-wave peak of the kinetic energy curve. The purple dot is on top of the A-wave peak of the kinetic energy curve. The systolic peak decreases as age increases. Regarding diastole, early tricuspid inflow blood flow kinetic energy sharply decreases, and there is no significant pattern to late tricuspid filling. At age 73 it can be seen that the time for diastole is much longer, this is a compensatory mechanism to allow more time for the ventricle to fill as the kinetic energy of the blood flow is not very high. The x-axis gives the time through the cardiac cycle. The y-axis shows the kinetic energy, in µJ/ml.