Characteristics of study population (N = 131).

<p>Characteristics of study population (N = 131).</p

Age and sex specific percentiles of descending thoracic aortic wall characteristics in the study sample (<i>n</i> = 124).

<p>Age and sex specific percentiles of descending thoracic aortic wall characteristics in the study sample (<i>n</i> = 124).</p

Example of double oblique candy cane and through-plane images and quantification of PWV parameters.

<p>Upper left images: example of plain and traced candy cane images in 32-year-old female participant. The aortic centreline was traced to measure aortic distances. Middle/lower left images: example of plain and traced through-plane images. Contours were traced in the ascending (pulmonary trunk) and proximal descending aorta and near the dome of the liver for aortic velocity mapping. Right image: illustration of velocity graph. Proximal, descending and total thoracic aortic PWV were quantified via linear modelling.</p

Example of 3D-T1-BB-VISTA acquisition and quantification of aortic wall characteristics.

<p>Left images: example of sagittal and reconstructed transversal images of the descending thoracic aorta obtained with the 3D-T1-BB-VISTA sequence in a 32-year-old female participant. Right images: graphic illustration of quantification of descending thoracic aortic wall characteristics. A and B are a graphic and in vivo representation of contour tracing and thickness measurements, respectively. C is a schematic illustration of the quantification methods for the various studied aortic wall characteristics.</p

Age and sex specific percentiles of thoracic aortic PWV in the study sample (<i>n</i> = 118).

<p>Age and sex specific percentiles of thoracic aortic PWV in the study sample (<i>n</i> = 118).</p

Example of short axis cine image and quantification of cardiac function parameters.

<p>Left images: example of 4 chamber and short axis multi-slice sensitivity-encoding steady-state free precession cine images at the level of the ventricular base (left bottom) of a 32-year-old female participant. Right images: graphic illustration of the semi-automatic quantification of cardiac function parameters.</p