Bm. Shapo et al., STRAIN IMAGING OF CORONARY-ARTERIES WITH INTRALUMINAL ULTRASOUND - EXPERIMENTS ON AN INHOMOGENOUS PHANTOM, Ultrasonic imaging, 18(3), 1996, pp. 173-191
Citations number
17
Categorie Soggetti
Acoustics,"Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging","Engineering, Biomedical
In coronary arteries, knowing the relative stiffness of atheroscleroti
c lesions can help physicians select the most appropriate therapeutic
modality. Because soft material supports larger strains than hard, mea
surements of this quantity can distinguish tissue of differing stiffne
ss. In a previous paper, we described techniques for computing displac
ements and strains in coronary arteries using an integrated angioplast
y and imaging catheter. Here, we demonstrate that hard and soft materi
als in a tissue-mimicking phantom can be differentiated with this devi
ce. Because tissue motion cannot be distinguished from catheter motion
a priori, we perform all computations in the coordinate system center
ed at the balloon's geometric center. This reference frame depends onl
y on balloon shape and is independent of catheter motion. A specialize
d correlation-based, phase-sensitive speckle tracking algorithm has be
en developed to compute strain. Maximum phantom displacement was about
25 mu m, and the maximum radial, normal strain was about 1.5 percent.
(C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.