Intravascular Ultrasound Elastography

Summary. Intravascular Ultrasound Blastography. The response of a tissue to mechanical excitation is a function of its mechanical properties. Excitation can be dynamic or quasistatic in nature. The response (e.g. displacement, velocity, compression) can be measured via ultrasound. This is the main principle underlying ultrasound elasticity imaging, sonoelasticity imaging, or ultrasound elastography. It is of great interest to know the local hardness of vessel wall and plaques. Intravascular elastography yields information unavailable or inconclusive if obtained from IVUS alone and thus contributes to more correct diagnosis. Potentially it can be used for therapy guidance. During the last decade several working groups used elastography in intravascular applications with varying success. In this paper we discuss the various approaches by different working groups. Focus will be on the approach of the Rotterdam group. Using a 30 MHz IVUS catheter, RF data are acquired from vessels in vitro at different intraluminal pressures. Local tissue displacement estimation by cross-correlation is followed by computation of the local strain. The resulting image supplies local information on the elastic properties of the vessel and plaque with high spatial resolution. Feasibility and usefulness are shown by means of phantom mesurements. Furthermore, initial in vitro results of femoral arteries and correlation with histology are discussed. Phantom data show that the elastograms reveal information not presented by the echogram. In vitro artery data prove that in principle elastography is capable of identifying plaque composition where echography fails.