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