Fig. 2

Schematic presentation of the standardized position of the 8 analysis planes along the carotid artery bifurcation (a). Each plane is divided into 12 wall segments (b), wall segments 1–3 and 11–12 of each of the planes 2–6 (labeled in red) represent the atherosclerosis prone region of the posterior carotid bulb. This scheme was used for both 4D flow and 3D-T1 weighted CMR data and the calculation of wall shear stress, oscillatory shear index and wall thickness values per plane and wall segment. CCA = common carotid artery; ICA = internal carotid artery; ECA = external carotid artery