The ability to assess likelihood of plaque rupture can determine the course of treatment in coronary artery disease. One indicator of plaque vulnerability is the development of blood vessels within the plaque, or intraplaque neovascularization. In order to visualize these vessels with increased sensitivity in the cardiac catheterization lab, a new approach for imaging blood flow in small vessels using side-viewing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is proposed. This approach based on compounding adjacent angular acquisitions was evaluated in tissue mimicking phantoms and ex vivo vessels. In phantom studies, the Doppler CNR increased from 3.3 ± 1.0 to 13 ± 2.6 (conventional clutter filtering) and from 1.9 ± 0.15 to 7.5 ± 1.1 (SVD filtering) as a result of applying angular compounding. When imaging flow at a rate of 5.6 mm/s in 200 µm tubes adjacent to the lumen of ex vivo porcine arteries, the Doppler CNR increased from 5.3 ± 0.95 to 7.2 ± 1.3 (conventional filtering) and from 23 ± 3.3 to 32 ± 6.7 (SVD filtering). Applying these strategies could allow increased sensitivity to slow flow in side-viewing intravascular ultrasound imaging.

中文翻译：

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通过角度复合进行侧视血管内超声成像的高对比功率多普勒成像

评估斑块破裂可能性的能力可以决定冠状动脉疾病的治疗过程。斑块脆弱性的指标之一是斑块内血管的发育或斑块内新血管形成。为了在心导管实验室中以更高的灵敏度可视化这些血管，提出了一种使用侧视血管内超声 (IVUS) 对小血管中的血流进行成像的新方法。这种基于复合相邻角度采集的方法在组织模拟体模和离体血管中进行了评估。在模型研究中，由于应用角度复合，多普勒 CNR 从 3.3 ± 1.0 增加到 13 ± 2.6（传统杂波滤波），从 1.9 ± 0.15 增加到 7.5 ± 1.1（SVD 滤波）。当在离体猪动脉管腔附近的 200 µm 管中以 5.6 mm/s 的速率对血流进行成像时，多普勒 CNR 从 5.3 ± 0.95 增加到 7.2 ± 1.3（传统过滤），并从 23 ± 3.3 增加到 32 ± 6.7 （SVD 过滤）。应用这些策略可以提高侧视血管内超声成像对慢流的敏感性。