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Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 September 01. Published in final edited form as: Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2016 September ; 9(9): e004984. doi:10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.116.004984.

Left Atrial and Left Atrial Appendage 4D Blood Flow Dynamics in Atrial Fibrillation Michael Markl, PhD1,2, Daniel C. Lee, MD1,3,4, Nicholas Furiasse, MD3, Maria Carr, R.T. (MR)1, Charles Foucar2, Jason Ng, PhD3,4, James Carr, MD1, and Jeffrey J. Goldberger, MD3,4,5 1Department

of Radiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

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2Department

of Biomedical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 3Division

of Cardiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

4Feinberg

Cardiovascular Research Institute, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

5Division

of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Abstract

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Background—Atrial 4D flow MRI was employed for the characterization of left atrial (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) flow dynamics in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).

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Methods and Result—4D flow MRI measured in-vivo 3D blood flow velocities in 60 AF patients and 15 controls. Anatomic maps of LA and LAA stasis and velocity were calculated to quantify atrial peak velocity, mean velocity, and stasis (velocities