Fig. 2

Comparison between two patients after valve-sparing aortic root replacement and a healthy subject. 4D Flow data of a) a healthy subject, c) a patient with a conventional tube prosthesis (TP) and e) a patient with a sinus prosthesis (SP) replacing the aortic bulb and ascending aorta. Blood flow is visualized starting from the ascending aorta using 3D pathlines, color-coded with respect to flow velocity (V [cm/s]). Images depict the generation of the flow field from left to right in early systole, late systole and early diastole. Flow patterns in peak systole are traced in b), d) and f). A variety of secondary flow patterns (dotted arrows) form in the aorta of both patients in d) and f). The subject in b) demonstrates undisturbed physiological flow. Both patients show typical changes in the aortic geometry including post-prosthetic dilatation (triangle), post-prosthetic kinking (bold arrow) and elongation of the descending aorta (asterisk)