Ultrasonic non-invasive investigation of arterial elasticity

Abstract

Arterial wall elasticity is relevant property closely related to artery physiology. Supposedly, decrease of arterial wall elasticity leads to serious diseases of blood vessel system. Possibility to assess parameters of artery wall elasticity in vivo would contribute significantly to early diagnostics of atherosclerosis, stenosis and other pathologic lesions. Despite the efforts made by numerous investigators widely accepted and in clinical practice used non-invasive approach still doesn't exists. In this paper original method for the estimation of artery wall elasticity using non-invasive ultrasound technique is proposed. Method is based on the indirect simultaneously measurements of blood pressure and movement of artery wall. Algorithm for the investigation of arterial diameter and wall dynamics using ultrasound M-scan technique is created. Algorithm enables to detect dynamics of blood-intima, mediaadventitia boundaries and intima-media thickness in human carotid artery. Blood flow velocity Doppler measurement for the indirect estimation of blood pressure is employed. Method for the elasticity estimation was evaluated in a in vivo study on the common carotid artery of 5 volunteers. Results show that proposed methodology provides valuable information on mechanical properties, i.e. artery wall elasticity and has a high potential for routine clinical usage. Further investigations for the detailed analysis of adequacy and validation using human artery phantom and larger population study are planned. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.