Intravascular acoustic radiation force impulse (IV-ARFI) imaging has the potential to identify vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques and improve clinical treatment decisions and outcomes for patients with coronary heart disease. Our long-term goal is to develop a thin, flexible catheter probe that does not require mechanical rotation to achieve high-resolution, real-time IV-ARFI imaging. In this work, we propose a novel cylindrical transducer array design for IV-ARFI imaging and investigate the feasibility of this approach. We present the construction of a 2.2-mm long, 4.6-Fr cylindrical prototype transducer to demonstrate generating large ARFI displacements from a small toroidal beam, and we also present simulations of the proposed IV-ARFI cylindrical array design using Field II and a cylindrical finite-element model of vascular tissues and soft plaques. The prototype transducer was found to generate peak radial displacements of over 10 μm in soft gelatin phantoms, and simulations demonstrate the ability of the array design to obtain ARFI images and distinguish soft plaque targets from surrounding, stiffer vessel wall tissue. These results suggest that high-resolution, real-time IV-ARFI imaging is possible using a cylindrical transducer array.

中文翻译：

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用于血管内ARFI成像的圆柱形换能器：设计和可行性。

血管内声辐射力脉冲（IV-ARFI）成像技术有可能识别脆弱的动脉粥样硬化斑块，并改善冠心病患者的临床治疗决策和结果。我们的长期目标是开发一种无需机械旋转的薄而灵活的导管探头，即可实现高分辨率的实时IV-ARFI成像。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种用于IV-ARFI成像的新型圆柱形换能器阵列设计，并研究了这种方法的可行性。我们介绍了一个2.2毫米长，4.6英尺圆柱原型传感器的构造，以演示如何从一个小的环形光束产生大的ARFI位移，我们还使用Field II和血管组织和软斑块的圆柱有限元模型对拟议的IV-ARFI圆柱阵列设计进行了仿真。发现原型传感器在软明胶体模中产生了超过10μm的峰值径向位移，并且仿真证明了阵列设计能够获得ARFI图像并从周围较硬的血管壁组织中区分出软斑目标的能力。这些结果表明，使用圆柱形换能器阵列可以进行高分辨率的实时IV-ARFI成像。