Non-invasive ultrasound monitoring of regional carotid wall structure and deformation in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is characterized by local remodeling of arterial structure and distensibility. Developing lesions either progress gradually to compromise tissue perfusion or rupture suddenly to cause catastrophic myocardial infarction or stroke. Reliable measurement of changes in arterial structure and composition is required for assessment of disease progression. Non-invasive carotid ultrasound can image the heterogeneity of wall structure and distensibility caused by atherosclerosis. However, this capability has not been utilized for clinical monitoring because of speckle noise and other artifacts. Clinical measures focus instead on average wall thickness and diameter distension in the distal common carotid to reduce sensitivity to noise. The goal of our research was to develop an effective system for reliable regional structure and deformation measurements since these are more sensitive indicators of disease progression. We constructed a system for freehand ultrasound scanning based on custom software which simultaneously acquires real-time image sequences and 3D frame localization data from an electromagnetic spatial localizer. With finite element modeling, we evaluated candidate measures of regional wall deformation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Chan, Raymond C

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robert S. Lees.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51599

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/51599