Time domain echo pattern evaluations from normal and atherosclerotic arterial walls: a study in vitro.
The aim of this study in vitro of human fresh specimens was to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of the aqueous phase-intima interface (the first 400 msec of the reflected signal) in normal and atherosclerotic arterial walls. Seventy-five samples were studied, 15 normal, 15 fatty, 15 fibrofatty, 15 fibrous, and 15 calcific. A broadband transducer (4 to 14 MHz) was used. The aqueous phase-intima reflection (expressed in dB, mean +/- SD) was lowest in the fatty plaques (-35.3 +/- 2.5), differing in a highly significant way from that in all other groups: normal (-13.2 +/- 8.8), fibrofatty (-20.4 +/- 8.3), fibrous (-13.0 +/- 9.7), calcific (-5.9 +/- 3.4). The echo coming from the intima-media transition was of relatively low amplitude in normal and in fatty samples; typically, strong reflections from the intima-media transitions were present in the other pathologic subsets. In conclusion, the time domain echo pattern of the arterial wall may provide a useful clue to the structure of the plaque.
Picano
E
E
Istituto di Fisiologia clinica del CNR, Pisa, Italy.
Landini
L
L
Lattanzi
F
F
Salvadori
M
M
Benassi
A
A
L'Abbate
A
A
D001011:Aorta; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000473:pathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography