HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Glor, F. P. Articles by Xu, X. Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Glor, F. P. Articles by Xu, X. Y.

Influence of head position on carotid hemodynamics in young adults

¹Cardiovascular Mechanics and Biofluid Dynamics Unit, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium; ²Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ; ³Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College London, London W2 1NY; ⁴Computational Imaging Sciences Group, Imaging Sciences, Guy’s Hospital, King’s College London, London SE1 9RT, United Kingdom

Submitted 23 December 2003 ; accepted in final form 2 June 2004

Studies in adults have shown marked changes in geometry and relative positions of the carotid arteries when rotating the head. The aim of this study was to quantify the change in geometry and analyze its effect on carotid hemodynamics as a result of head rotation. The right carotid arteries of nine young adult subjects were investigated in supine position with straight and left turned head positions, respectively. The three-dimensional (3D) carotid geometry was reconstructed by using 3D ultrasound (3D US), and the carotid hemodynamics were calculated by combining 3D US with computational fluid dynamics. It was observed that cross-sectional areas and shapes did not change markedly with head rotation, but carotid vessel center lines altered with planarification of the common carotid artery as a main feature (P < 0.05). Measured common carotid flow rates changed significantly at the individual level when the head was turned, but on the average, the change in mean common carotid flow rate was relatively small (0.37 ± 1.11 ml/s). The effect of the altered center lines and flow rates on the atherogenic nature of the carotid bifurcation was evaluated by using calculated hemodynamic wall parameters, such as wall shear stress (WSS) and oscillatory shear index (OSI). It was found that WSS and OSI patterns changed significantly with head rotation, but the variations were very subject dependent and could not have been predicted without assessing the altered geometry and flow of the carotid bifurcation for individual cases. This study suggests that there is a need for standardization of the choice of head position in the 3D US scan protocol, and that carotid stents and emboli diverters should be studied in different head positions.

three-dimensional ultrasound; atherosclerosis; wall shear stress; computational fluid dynamics