Assessment of transmitral and left atrial appendage flow rate from cardiac 4D-CT.

Assessing the blood flow inside the heart is important in diagnosis and treatment of various cardiovascular diseases, such as atrial fibrillation or heart failure. We developed a method to accurately track the motion of the heart walls over the course of a heartbeat in three-dimensional Computed Tomography (CT) images. Based on the motion, we calculated the amount of blood passing through the mitral valve and the left atrial appendage orifice, which are markers used in the diagnostic of heart failure and assessment of stroke risk in atrial fibrillation. The results agreed well with measurements from 4D flow MRI, an imaging technique that measures blood velocities. Our method could broaden the use of CT and make additional exams redundant. It can even be used to calculate the blood flow inside the heart.