Plaque characterization using shear wave elastography-evaluation of differentiability and accuracy using a combined ex vivo and in vitro setup.

Plaque characterization using shear wave elastography-evaluation of differentiability and accuracy using a combined ex vivo and in vitro setup.
Phys Med Biol. 2018 Nov 23;63(23):235008
Authors: Marlevi D, Maksuti E, Urban MW, Winter R, Larsson M
Abstract
Ultrasound elastography has shown potential for improved plaque risk stratification. However, no clear consensus exists on what output metric to use, or what imaging parameters would render optimal plaque differentiation. For this reason we developed a combined ex vivo and in vitro setup, in which the ability to differentiate phantom plaques of varying stiffness was evaluated as a function of plaque geometry, push location, imaging plane, and analysed wave speed metric. The results indicate that group velocity or phase velocity  ⩾1 kHz showed the highest ability to significantly differentiate plaques of different stiffness, successfully classifying a majority of the 24 analysed plaque geometries, respectively. The ability to differentiate plaques was also better in the longitudinal views than in the transverse view. Group velocity as well as phase velocities  <1 kHz showed a systematic underestimation of plaque stiffness, stemming from the confined plaque geometries, however, despite this group velocity analysis showed lowest deviation in estimated plaque stiffness (0.1 m s-1 compared to 0.2 m s-1 for phase velocity analysis). SWE results were also invariant to SWE p...

Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - November 23, 2018 Category: Physics Authors: Marlevi D, Maksuti E, Urban MW, Winter R, Larsson M Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research