Fig. 5

Circumferential and segmental wall shear stress (WSS) in the thoracic aorta before and after aortic valve repair in patients with congenital heart disease. a Graphs of quantitative analyses of circumferential peak systolic WSS show a significant reduction at the level of the mid-ascending aorta (midAAo), proximal aortic arch (proxAA), and distal aortic arch (distAA). Red lines indicate patients with unicuspid aortic valves and diamonds indicate patients with additional aortic root remodeling. b Spider charts of segmental peak systolic WSS at eight standardized local anatomic positions of the vessel wall (A, anterior; LA, left anterior; L, left; LP, left posterior; P, posterior; RP, right posterior; R, right; RA, right anterior) before (red spiders) and after (blue spiders) surgery. Highest segmental WSS was observed in the anterior, right-anterior, and right segments in the mid-ascending aorta as well as in the anterior and left-anterior segments of the proximal aortic arch. Asterisks indicate segments with significantly reduced WSS after aortic valve surgery. Of note, changes in peak systolic segmental WSS values are co-located with the changes in localized outflow jets and the position of elevated velocity before and after surgery