3D-ultrasound at the arterial and venous system

We report upon a new method of vascular ultrasound which allows a three dimensional imaging. With serial sector images it is possible to get vertical pictures nearly parallel (max 60 in sequence). After transformation, a workstation calculates the third dimension parallel to the surface of the body in addition to the known 2 dimensions. The result is a sort of sculpture rotating around 360 degrees which allows to take a look at the region of interest from diverse angles. Up to now we got informations on the morphology of arterial plaques which can be divided into two main groups: a) prominent plaques like branches of a tree or like humps, b) plane excavated alterations of the vessel wall (exulcerations). At the venous system we did examinations on thrombosis. First acknowledges allow thrombi along a foreign body (catheter) increase in layers while thrombi caused by stagnation show a more heterogenous structure.