In Vivo Visualization and Quantification of Dermal Nevus Microvasculature Using Super-Resolution Ultrasound of...

Background/Objectives: Distinguishing melanoma from benign melanocytic nevi remains a central diagnostic challenge, and vascular features may provide additional information beyond surface morphology. Super-resolution ultrasound using the erythrocytes (SURE) is a contrast-free imaging technique that uses endogenous erythrocyte scattering signals to reconstruct microvascular architecture beyond the conventional diffraction limit. This study evaluated the feasibility of SURE for in vivo visualization and quantitative assessment of dermal microvasculature in clinically benign nevi. Methods: Eleven participants with 35 clinically benign dermal nevi were included. All lesions underwent clinical and dermoscopic assessment, conventional B-mode ultrasound, color and power Doppler imaging, and SURE imaging. Eight larger nevi were imaged in two imaging planes, resulting in 43 SURE acquisitions. SURE reconstructions were assessed qualitatively for microvascular morphology and quantitatively for vessel diameter and erythrocyte flow velocity in proximal, intermediate, and distal visible intralesional vessel segments. Results: Dermoscopic and conventional ultrasound images were acquired for all lesions. SURE reconstructions of sufficient quality for quantitative analysis were obtained for all included acquisitions, yielding 129 vessel diameter measurements and 129 corresponding velocity measurements. Conventional Doppler demonstrated absent or minimal detectable vascular signal in the majority of lesions, whereas SURE visualized branching structures consistent with dermal microvascular networks in all the lesions. The mean vessel diameter was 85.0 ± 20.2 µm, with measured diameters ranging from 48.1 to 173.0 µm. The median flow velocity was 1.80 [1.30-2.50] mm/s. No significant differences in vessel diameter or velocity were observed between proximal, intermediate, and distal intralesional segments. Conclusions: SURE enabled contrast-free in vivo visualization and quantitative assessment of low-velocity dermal microvasculature in clinically benign nevi. These findings support the feasibility of SURE for microvascular mapping of melanocytic lesions and provide a basis for future studies including malignant lesions, volumetric imaging, and histopathological validation.