P6.01 ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF LOCAL ARTERIAL STIFFNESS: FEASIBILITY STUDY IN AN ANIMAL MODEL OF ADVANCED ATHEROSCLEROSIS

DOI

10.1016/j.artres.2009.10.068How to use a DOI?

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a pathological process affecting arterial elasticity. The rabbit is one of the most widely used animal models for atherosclerosis research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a method for the automatic assessment of local vascular stiffness in rabbits.

An off-line algorithm for the evaluation of arterial diameter (D) and distension (ΔD) from ultrasound image sequences was developed in Matlab and tested in 3 atherosclerotic and 2 control rabbits. Longitudinal scans of the aortic and carotid arteries of the rabbits were recorded in DICOM format. High frame-rate (330Hz) image sequences (3 seconds) were acquired to track the rapid movement of the vessel (heart rate ∼ 240bpm) using iE33 Philips ultrasound system. The probe was hold by a clamp. The measurement variability was assessed by performing two scans for each subject.

The high frame-rate provided a temporal resolution of 3 msec allowing the instantaneous tracking of the diameter curve for both carotid and aorta. As regards the variability, the coefficients of variation were: 3%±2% (D) and 7%±3% (ΔD) for the aorta (mean D=3.2mm) and 3%±2% (D) and 5%±4% (ΔD) for the carotid (mean D=1.99mm).

Our data demonstrate that the implemented ultrasound image processing algorithm is able to non-invasively assess the vascular instantaneous diameter both in control and atherosclerotic rabbits. The method, together with intra-central ear artery blood pressure measurement, could evaluate the effects of new therapeutic interventions on vascular stiffness in those pathological conditions characterized by arterial dysfunction, such as atherosclerosis.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

Download article (PDF)
View full text (HTML)

TY  - JOUR
AU  - E. Bianchini
AU  - C. Giannarelli
AU  - F. Faita
AU  - G. Cimmino
AU  - V. Gemignani
AU  - J.J. Badimon
PY  - 2009
DA  - 2009/12/03
TI  - P6.01 ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF LOCAL ARTERIAL STIFFNESS: FEASIBILITY STUDY IN AN ANIMAL MODEL OF ADVANCED ATHEROSCLEROSIS
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 164
EP  - 164
VL  - 3
IS  - 4
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2009.10.068
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2009.10.068
ID  - Bianchini2009
ER  -