# Arrhythmia-resolved 5D Flow MRI in Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke

> **NIH NIH F31** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $42,714

## Abstract

Project Summary
Atrial Fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and it is a major risk factor for ischemic
stroke. This is due to thrombus formation in the left atrium which may be mitigated by anticoagulation therapy
but carrying its own bleeding risk. Current clinical therapy selection strategies balancing bleeding risk of
anticoagulation therapy to stroke risk lack
for
stroke
patient
The
be
prediction
predictive power. Blood stasis is a key component of Virchow's triad
thrombus formation, and flow imaging methods have shown lowered left atrial velocities are associated with
risk. However, these methods either lack omprehensive 3D measurement or must reject data when the
is i n arrhythmia, where both of these may be necessary to develop accurate biomarkers to predict stroke.
goal of this project is to further develop and optimize an arrhythmia resolved flow imaging MRI method to
able to capture the time varying 3D atrial hemodynamics during arrhythmia with the potential to develop stroke
biomarkers to guide medical therapy selection.
c
The first aim of this proposal is development and optimization of the MRI method: arrhythmia resolved 5D flow
MRI, a multi-dimensional data set of dimension: 3D spatial + cardiac time + heartbeat duration. For several
heartbeat durations measured during arrhythmia (e.g. short heartbeats, long heartbeats) we will construct a 3D
time varying magnitude and velocity data set for one cardiac cycle for that heartbeat duration. A pulsatile flow
phantom, capable of simulating a known arrhythmia, will allow the optimization of acquisition time and image
reconstruction methodology and parameters. I will develop two different reconstruction algorithms, which can be
reconstructed using the same raw data. First, images will be reconstructed to measure maximum differences
across the varying heart rhythm in order to analyze the heart rate variable hemodynamics within a patient.
Second, images will be reconstructed based on data acquired from fixed, standardized heartbeat lengths,
allowing the comparison between subjects, controlling for the effect of heartbeat duration itself. This will be tested
against the reference standard, in this setting: 2D real time phase contrast. Clinical collaborators will help with
algorithm design of the optimized imaging reconstruction to ensure success of in vitro to in vivo translation of the
technique from the first aim to subsequent aims. The second aim will validate this technique in vivo with a cohort
of 10 healthy controls and 10 persistent atrial fibrillation patients. This will also establish heart rate variable and
controlled hemodynamic differences between these groups. In the third aim, we will test the abilities of the
method to discriminate between stroke history and no stroke history atrial fibrillation patients. 12 persistent atrial
fibrillation patients with prior cardioembolic stroke history and 12 persistent atrial fibrillation patients without a
stroke hist...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10538265
- **Project number:** 1F31HL165915-01
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Justin J Baraboo
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $42,714
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10538265

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10538265, Arrhythmia-resolved 5D Flow MRI in Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke (1F31HL165915-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10538265. Licensed CC0.

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