Intravascular imaging

• Published in: Ultrasonics 1998-02, Vol.36 (1), p.625-628
• Main Authors: Bom, N., Li, W., Van Der Steen, A.F.W., Lancée, C.T., Céspedes, E.I., Slager, C.J., De Korte, C.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustical measurements and instrumentation; Acoustics; Angiography; Animals; Arterial Occlusive Diseases - etiology; Arterial Occlusive Diseases - physiopathology; Arteriosclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Biological and medical sciences; Blood flow quantification; Blood Flow Velocity - physiology; Blood velocity; Blood Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Cardiovascular system; Computer Simulation; Disease Susceptibility; Elasticity; Elastography; Endothelium, Vascular - diagnostic imaging; Endothelium, Vascular - physiopathology; Exact sciences and technology; Feasibility Studies; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Hardness; Humans; Image Enhancement; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Intravascular 3D imaging; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Medical sciences; Models, Cardiovascular; Physics; Shear stress; Stress, Mechanical; Tissue identification; True 3D reconstruction; Ultrasonic investigative techniques; Ultrasonography, Interventional - instrumentation; Ultrasonography, Interventional - methods
• ISSN: 0041-624X; 1874-9968
• DOI: 10.1016/S0041-624X(97)00130-3

Based on three-dimensional (3D) information, quantitative data such as plaque volume can be calculated. The procedure includes automatic contour detection based on image segmentation methods and greatly speeds up clinical evaluation. With the use of additional X-ray information, the true tortuous vessel geometry can be reconstructed in 3D. This allows, by numerical modelling techniques, to calculate endothelial shear stress values which in turn may indicate sites prone to stenosis. With a decorrelation technique for radio frequency (RF) echo information from sequential data in the same beam direction and integration method over the entire cross section, blood velocity can be shown colour-coded during the cardiac cycle, while even blood flow quantification seems to be possible. In vitro as well as animal experiments have shown the feasibility of the method. Intravascular imaging can be used to study the biomechanical properties of atheroma components. Local radial strain as a measure of local tissue hardness can be estimated in principle. Hard or soft plaques can be identified from the strain images independently of the echogenic contrast between plaque and vessel wall.