Ultrasonic vibration dectection with wavelets: preliminary results

Quest for the Vulnerable Atheroma: Carotid Stenosis and Diametric Strain--A Feasibility Study

The Bernoulli effect may result in eruption of a vulnerable carotid atheroma, causing a stroke. We measured electrocardiography (ECG)-registered QRS intra-stenotic blood velocity and atheroma strain dynamics in carotid artery walls using ultrasonic tissue Doppler methods, providing displacement and time resolutions of 0.1 μm and 3.7 ms. Of 22 arteries, 1 had a peak systolic velocity (PSV) >280 cm/s, 4 had PSVs between 165 and 280 cm/s and 17 had PSVs <165 cm/s. Eight arteries with PSVs <65 cm/s and 4 of 9 with PSVs between 65 and 165 cm/s had normal systolic diametric expansion (0% and 7%) and corresponding systolic wall thinning. The remaining 10 arteries had abnormal systolic strain dynamics, 2 with diametric reduction (>-0.05 mm), 2 with extreme wall expansion (>0.1 mm), 2 with extreme wall thinning (>-0.1 mm) and 4 with combinations. Decreases in systolic diameter and/or extreme systolic arterial wall thickening may indicate imminent atheroma rupture.

Tissue vibration pulsatility for arterial bleeding detection using Doppler ultrasound

Trauma is the number one cause of death among Americans between 1 and 44 years old, and exsanguination due to internal bleeding resulting from arterial injuries is a major factor in trauma deaths. We have evaluated the feasibility of using tissue vibration pulsatility in arterial bleeding detection. Eight femoral arteries from four juvenile pigs were punctured transcutaneously with a 6 or 9-French catheter. Also, 11 silicone vessels wrapped with turkey breast were placed in a pulsatile flow phantom and penetrated with an 18-gauge needle. The tissue vibration pulsatility was derived as a ratio of the maximum spectral energy from 200 to 2500 Hz of tissue vibration in systole over a baseline value in diastole. Then, the tissue vibration pulsatility index (TVPI) was defined as the maximum tissue vibration pulsatility value for each experimental condition. Both in vitro and in vivo results showed that the TVPI from injured vessels is significantly higher (p<0.005) than that of intact vessels. In addition, we constructed the 2D map of tissue vibration pulsatility during in vitro studies and found that it could be used for spatial localization of the puncture site. Our preliminary results indicate that the tissue vibration pulsatility may be useful for detecting arterial bleeding and localizing the bleeding site.

Ultrasonic Doppler Vibrometry: Novel Method for Detection of Left Ventricular Wall Vibrations Caused by Poststenotic Coronary Flow

BACKGROUND

A diastolic coronary flow murmur has been reported for patients with coronary stenoses, yet is rarely appreciated during routine auscultation. We hypothesized that an ultrasonic Doppler method can detect the epicardial vibrations associated with this murmur. Ultrasonic Doppler vibrometry is a pulsed wave echocardiography phase demodulation technique designed for detecting vibrations. We correlated the vibration characteristics measured using vibrometry with the angiographic severity of coronary artery stenosis.

METHODS

In a prospective pilot study, 49 patients were recruited for an ultrasound examination before coronary arteriography. An ultrasound instrument was customized to acquire the raw pulsed wave Doppler echocardiographic data from a range gate placed on the left ventricular myocardium near the path of the epicardial coronary arteries.

RESULTS

Patients with angiographically minor stenosis (tightest stenosis < 50% by quantitative coronary angiography, N = 25) had lower diastolic vibration energy (computed as the median spectral energy of myocardial wall velocity in the 100 approximately 1000-Hz frequency band normalized by a baseline diastolic value) compared with patients with moderate or severe stenosis (any stenosis > 50%, N = 24) (P < .001, area under the receiver operating characteristics curve = 0.84). The vibration energy increased with increasing stenosis severity for less severe narrowing (<70%) but decreased for severe narrowing (>70%) (R(2) = 0.21, P < .0002).

CONCLUSIONS

Preliminary evidence indicates that diastolic left ventricular wall vibrations measured using ultrasonic Doppler vibrometry are related to the severity of coronary artery stenoses. With further refinement and validation, this noninvasive and low-cost method could lead to an early screening and monitoring test for coronary artery stenosis.

Ultrasonic interrogation of tissue vibrations in arterial and organ injuries: preliminary in vivo results

Soft tissues surrounding vascular injuries are known to vibrate at audible and palpable frequencies, producing bruits and thrills. We report the results of a feasibility study where Doppler ultrasound (US) was used to quantitatively estimate the tissue vibrations after induced trauma in an animal model. A software-programmable US system was used to acquire quadrature-demodulated ensembles of received US echoes bypassing clutter filtering and other conventional Doppler processing stages. The waveforms of tissue velocity surrounding the injury site were then estimated from the clutter data using autocorrelation and analyzed to determine vibration characteristics. Six New Zealand white rabbits and two juvenile pigs were used for the study. The femoral artery of the anesthetized animal was punctured with an 18-gauge needle to model a peripheral arterial trauma, and the liver was surgically exposed and incised to model organ trauma. Two types of oscillatory tissue motion were observed: "vibrations" with high frequency (>50 Hz) and low peak-peak amplitude (<1 microm) and "flutter" with low frequency (<50 Hz) and high peak-peak amplitude (>1 microm). Active bleeding in femoral artery punctures produced tissue vibrations at the frequency of 323 +/- 214 Hz (mean +/- standard deviation, pooled for both rabbits and pigs) and the amplitude of 0.24 +/- 0.15 microm. Active bleeding in liver incisions produced vibrations at the frequency of 120 +/- 47 Hz and the amplitude of 0.33 +/- 0.25 microm. Flutter was observed in punctured arteries at the frequency of 28 +/- 13 Hz the amplitude of 2.92 +/- 1.75 microm, and in incised livers at the frequency of 26 +/- 6 Hz and the amplitude of 1.53 +/- 0.76 microm. In a punctured artery, the vibration frequency and phase of tissue surrounding the artery were highly correlated between neighboring locations in tissue (correlation coefficient = 0.98), and with the flow oscillations in the lumen (correlation coefficient = 0.96). This preliminary study indicates that tissue vibrations could provide additional physiologic information for detecting, localizing and monitoring internal bleeding using US.