Clinically significant atherosclerosis in the human aorta is most common in the infrarenal
segment. This study was initiated to test the hypothesis that flowfield properties are closely
related to the localization of plaques in this segment of the arteial system. Wall shear stress
was calculated from magnetic resonance velocity measurements of pulsatile flow in an
anatomically accurate model of the human abdominal aorta. The wall shear stress values
were compared with intimal thickening from 15 post-mortem aortas measured by quantitative …