title: Automatic dissociation between microvasculature and larger vessels for ultrasound contrast imaging.
abstract: Microvasculature density (MVD) provides an established biomarker for the prognosis of numerous diseases associated with abnormal microvascular networks. The accurate, robust and timely assessment of MVD changes facilitates disease detection, treatment monitoring and patient stratification. Nevertheless, the current gold standard (PET) for MVD quantification is not used in clinical practice due to its high costs and potential health hazards. Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) imaging can provide an attractive alternative. However, the limited dissociation between larger vessels and microvasculature in the imaged tissues limits the accuracy and robustness of CEUS. This study proposed a novel, and fully automatic technique that dissociates larger vessels from microvasculature in CEUS imaged tissues. The ovine Corpus Luteum (CL) was used as an in vivo model for the development and assessment of the proposed technique.
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perperidis
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Michalakis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Averkiou
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McNeilly
authors.forename: Mairead
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: Vassilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sboros
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003338:Corpus Luteum / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D055806:Microvessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012756:Sheep; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods