Validation of derived hemodynamic quantities and independent measurements

Evaluate whether the attention-guided multi-scale super-resolution network accurately reconstructs derived hemodynamic quantities, including wall shear stress, pressure gradients, and turbulent kinetic energy, and validate its outputs against independent in vivo measurements.

Background

The evaluation is limited to velocity-field errors, although the clinical motivation for super-resolution includes improved estimation of wall shear stress, pressure gradients, and turbulent kinetic energy. The study also lacks independent in vivo validation against high-resolution 2D phase-contrast MRI or ultrasound measurements, leaving the clinical fidelity of the reconstructed fields unresolved.

References

Fourth, the evaluation was restricted to velocity errors; derived hemodynamic quantities such as wall shear stress, pressure gradients, and turbulent kinetic energy, which motivate the use of super-resolution, were not assessed. Fifth, the two models were compared with each other but not with conventional interpolation or with previously published super-resolution networks, and no independent in vivo validation, for example, against high-resolution 2D phase-contrast MRI or ultrasound measurements, was performed. Addressing these points, particularly the evaluation of derived hemodynamic quantities and validation against independent measurements, is the subject of future work.

— Attention-guided super-resolution of 4D flow MRI in carotid arteries  (2609.04891 - Mokhtari et al., 4 Sep 2026) in Section Results and Discussion, limitations paragraph