Visualization of flow in the ascending aorta: bicuspid aortic valves compared to tricuspid aortic valves

Methods Our prospective matched-pair study included 18 patients (median age 25 years, range 8 44 years) with a native bicuspid aortic valve and normal diameters of the ascending aorta, without stenosis or insufficiency of the aortic valve and no coarctation of the aorta. All of the 18 patients were ageand sexmatched with 18 controls with a tricuspid aortic valve. All patients with BAV were otherwise healthy without any cardiovascular disease. Both groups underwent time-resolved flow-sensitive 4D CMR for the individual evaluation of 3D flow pattern of the ascending aorta (spatial resolution = 2.1 x 1.7 x 2.5 mm, temporal resolution = 39.2 ms). All data sets were evaluated independently by three blinded investigators. According to a predefined classification, the helical flow patterns were graded.