TURBINE FLOW SENSOR FOR VOLUME-FLOW RATE VERIFICATION IN MR

A turbine flow sensor for MR flow experiments has been evaluated using reference volume-flow rate measurements obtained using an electromagn etic (EM) flow meter measurements and simultaneous phase contrast (PC) MR acquisitions. After calibration, the device was found to have accu racy (compared with the EM flow meter), linearity, and precision of be tter than +/- 1%, +/- 3.5%, 3.5%, respectively, in constant flow mode (0 to 30 ml s(-1)). The frequency response of the flow sensor was flat (within +/- 10%) up to 13.9 Hz. Volume-flow rate measurements on cons tant and simulated physiologic flow waveforms were in close agreement with both the electromagnetic (EM) flow meter and the gated MR PC esti mates.