Characterization of vascular strain during in-vitro angioplasty with high-resolution ultrasound speckle tracking.
BACKGROUND
Ultrasound elasticity imaging provides biomechanical and elastic properties of vascular tissue, with the potential to distinguish between tissue motion and tissue strain. To validate the ability of ultrasound elasticity imaging to predict structurally defined physical changes in tissue, strain measurement patterns during angioplasty in four bovine carotid artery pathology samples were compared to the measured physical characteristics of the tissue specimens.


METHODS
Using computational image-processing techniques, the circumferences of each bovine artery specimen were obtained from ultrasound and pathologic data.


RESULTS
Ultrasound-strain-based and pathology-based arterial circumference measurements were correlated with an R2 value of 0.94 (p = 0.03). The experimental elasticity imaging results confirmed the onset of deformation of an angioplasty procedure by indicating a consistent inflection point where vessel fibers were fully unfolded and vessel wall strain initiated.


CONCLUSIONS
These results validate the ability of ultrasound elasticity imaging to measure localized mechanical changes in vascular tissue.
Patel
Prashant
P
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Biswas
Rohan
R
Park
Daewoo
D
Cichonski
Thomas J
TJ
Richards
Michael S
MS
Rubin
Jonathan M
JM
Phan
Sem
S
Hamilton
James
J
Weitzel
William F
WF
D017130:Angioplasty / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D002417:Cattle; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014463:Ultrasonography