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Published on: August 5, 2020
Extracting the small vibrations of a vessel wall
1Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran. Leili.salehi@gmail.com
Insights
This study introduces a novel ultrasound simulation model to detect early atherosclerosis by analyzing subtle vessel wall vibrations. The method offers a non-invasive approach for improved diagnosis and spatial resolution in cardiovascular imaging.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Medical Imaging
- Cardiovascular Ultrasound
Background:
- Cardiac and vascular diseases are leading causes of mortality globally.
- Early diagnosis of atherosclerosis is crucial for effective treatment.
- Current echocardiography lacks the resolution to visualize reduced vessel wall vibrations caused by atherosclerosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a new simulation model for ultrasonic systems to generate RF signals for imaging vessel wall layers.
- To develop a method for extracting high-frequency vessel wall vibrations indicative of atherosclerosis.
- To enable non-invasive detection of atherosclerotic plaque with high spatial resolution.
Main Methods:
- Simulated RF signal generation for vessel wall imaging.
- Removal of large heartbeat-induced motion using continuous wavelet transform.
- Estimation of high-frequency vibrations via phase difference in Hilbert transforms.
- Validation using real ultrasound data from the aorta and hepatic vein.
Main Results:
- The proposed method successfully extracts high-frequency vibrations from RF signals.
- The technique demonstrated effectiveness in analyzing real ultrasound data from major blood vessels.
- The approach allows for non-invasive detection of atherosclerotic changes.
Conclusions:
- The novel ultrasound simulation model and vibration analysis method show promise for early atherosclerosis detection.
- This technique offers a potential non-invasive diagnostic tool with good spatial resolution.
- Further application on real clinical data could enhance cardiovascular disease diagnosis.
Abstract:
Cardiac and vascular diseases are among the main causes of mortality. Diagnosis of these diseases in the early stages can be very helpful for their treatments. One of the effects of atherosclerosis is the reduction of vessel wall vibrations. Echocardiography images cannot show these vibrations, due to their lack of resolution. In this study a new model for vessel simulation in an ultrasonic system is proposed that can be used for RF signal generation for imaging vessel wall layers. To extract the high frequency vibrations, at the first stage large motion of the vessel wall due to heartbeat is removed from RF signals using continuous wavelet transform and then these simulated vibrations are estimated by calculating the phase difference between Hilbert transforms of signals. This method may be used to detect the areas with atherosclerotic plaque non-invasively and with a respectable spatial resolution. The proposed method has been used for real data from the inferior wall of the aorta and the anterior wall of the hepatic vein to evaluate the efficiency of this method for real ultrasound data.
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