Noninvasive 3-D ultrasound of atherosclerotic plaques in the watanabe rabbit

We have investigated the ability to quantitate atherosclerosis in the aorti c arch of the Watanabe rabbit using noninvasive 3-D ultrasound, Our methodo logy utilizes postprocessing of videotaped freehand 2-D interrogations to f orm a compound 3-D data block. Structures may then be segmented on the attr ibuted grey-scale level and volumes measured. Analysis of 3-D reconstructio ns revealed a low echo structure in the aortic arch of atherosclerotic rabb its, absent in nonatherosclerotic rabbits, at recognized sites of plaque pr edilection. This structure volume correlated closely with fatty streak volu me determined from histology (r = 0.890). During a 30-week study, this stru cture volume increased in untreated animals, but was blocked by treatment w ith the antiatherosclerotic agent probucol. Thus, a new 3-D ultrasound meth odology has been used noninvasively to detect and quantitate a low echo str ucture corresponding to fatty streaks in the Watanabe rabbit aortic arch, T his new methodology could potentially aid plaque burden quantification in h uman peripheral arteries. (C) 1999 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medic ine & Biology.