Elastography

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in industrialized countries.  Early intervention is possible using a number of therapies if the disease can be detected at an early stage.  Progression of atherosclerotic disease is currently measured by determining vessel stenosis from ultrasound or X-ray imaging.   Such measurement provides little or no information about the composition of the atherosclerotic plaque or the degree of complication.

A new method of analyzing the mechanical properties of peripheral vessels is presented here. An extension of the generalized motion model method of displacement estimation is developed along with the radiant function, a new method of analyzing the motion of the vessel wall based on the displacement data. The efficacy of the technique is explored with porcine arteries in vitro, and with normal and atherosclerotic vessels in vivo.

Results:

Original Images
Segmentation
Displacement vectors
Color map
Radiant Function