3-D Intravascular Characterization of Blood Flow Velocity Fields with a Forward-Viewing 2-D Array

Brooks D Lindsey; Bowen Jing; Saeyoung Kim; Graham C Collins; Muralidhar Padala

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.05.022

3-D Intravascular Characterization of Blood Flow Velocity Fields with a Forward-Viewing 2-D Array

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020 Sep;46(9):2560-2571. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.05.022. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Authors

Brooks D Lindsey¹, Bowen Jing², Saeyoung Kim³, Graham C Collins², Muralidhar Padala⁴

Affiliations

¹ Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Bioengineering Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: brooks.lindsey@bme.gatech.edu.
² Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Bioengineering Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Bioengineering Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Joseph P. Whitehead Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA; Structural Heart Research and Innovation Laboratory, Carlyle Fraser Heart Center at Emory University Hospital Midtown, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Abstract

Risk stratification in coronary artery disease is an ongoing challenge for which few tools are available for quantifying physiology within coronary arteries. Recently, anatomy-driven computational fluid dynamic modeling has enabled the mapping of local flow dynamics in coronary stenoses, with derived parameters such as WSS exhibiting a strong capability for predicting adverse clinical events on a patient-specific basis. As cardiac catheterization is common in patients with coronary artery disease, minimally invasive technologies capable of identifying pathologic flow in situ in real time could have a significant impact on clinical decision- making. As a step toward in vivo quantification of slow flow near the arterial wall, proof-of-concept for 3-D intravascular imaging of blood flow dynamics is provided using a 118-element forward-viewing ring array transducer and a research ultrasound system. Blood flow velocity components are estimated in the direction of primary flow using an unfocused wave Doppler approach, and in the lateral and elevation directions, using a transverse oscillation approach. This intravascular 3-D vector velocity system is illustrated by acquiring real-time 3-D data sets in phantom experiments and in vivo in the femoral artery of a pig. The effect of the catheter on blood flow dynamics is also experimentally assessed in flow phantoms with both straight and stenotic vessels. Results indicate that 3-D flow dynamics can be measured using a small form factor device and that a hollow catheter design may provide minimal disturbance to flow measurements in a stenosis (peak velocity: 54.97 ± 2.13 cm/s without catheter vs. 51.37 ± 1.08 cm/s with hollow catheter, 6.5% error). In the future, such technologies could enable estimation of 3-D flow dynamics near the wall in patients already undergoing catheterization.

Keywords: 3-D ultrasound; Forward-viewing transducer; Intravascular ultrasound; Matrix array; Ring array; Transverse oscillation; Vector velocity.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Blood Flow Velocity*
Blood Vessels / diagnostic imaging*
Blood Vessels / physiology*
Constriction, Pathologic
Imaging, Three-Dimensional*
Phantoms, Imaging
Swine
Transducers
Ultrasonography, Interventional* / methods

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding