Reconstructive interpolation for pulse wave estimation to improve local PWV measurement of carotid artery

In conclusion, the reconstructive interpolation for the pulse wave estimation improves the accuracy and repeatability of the carotid local PWV measurement.Graphical abstractUltrasonic transit time-based local pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurement is defined as the distance between two beam positions on a segment of common carotid artery (CCA) divided by the transit time of the pulse wave (PW). However, PWs estimated from ultrasonic radio frequency (RF) signals with a limited number of frames using the motion tracking are typically discontinuous. In this work, a method that involves motion tracking combined with reconstructive interpolation (MTRI) is proposed for PW estimation to improve local PWV measurement. For each beam position, normalized cross-correlation functions (NCCFs) between the reference (the first frame) and comparison (the remaining frames) RF signals are calculated. Thereafter, the reconstructive interpolation is performed in the neighborhood of the NCCFs ’ peak to identify the interpolation-deduced peak locations, which are more exact than the original ones. According to which, the improved PWs are obtained to calculate their transit time along a segment of the CCA. Finally, the local PWV is measured by applying a linear regression fit to the time -distance result. In ultrasound simulations based on the PW propagation models of young, middle-aged, and elderly groups, the MTRI method with different numbers of interpolated samples was used to estimate PWs and...
Source: Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing - Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research