Figure 3

3D flow pattern development in the thoracic aorta in patient 1 with a tubular shaped aortic arch and an aneurysm of the proximal descending aorta (yellow, arrow, diameter = 4.2 cm). 3D stream-lines within the 3D-PC-MRA iso-surface illustrate accelerated flow along the outer aneurysm wall (t = 180 ms) and subsequent formation of a flow vortex (t = 300 ms and t = 380 ms). Note that aneurysm formation affects blood flow in the entire aorta resulting in marked helical flow in the ascending aorta (AAo, white arrows).