Investigation of pharyngeal flow patterns using phase contrast-MRI

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder of disrupted breathing caused by partial or complete closure of the upper airway. Studies suggest the possibility of a relationship of flow characteristics with OSA. However, this hypothesis has not been tested. Phase contrast-MRI (PC-MRI) is an established technique to quantify fluid flow and has been previously used to study flow patterns in a stenotic phantom. Hence, it is used here to experimentally investigate pharyngeal flow patterns to extract pathophysiological parameters like fluid velocity in order to understand OSA.