|
Non-invasive ultrasound imaging has been used to assess changes in the arterial wall such as changes in stiffness and the presence of plaque and its progression. Typically, stiffer arteries are thought to contribute to the progression of atherosclerosis. Therefore, it would be beneficial to find tools that assess and monitor changes in arterial stiffness to assist in the identification of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and to help optimize the treatment of CVD risk factors for these individuals. The objective of this research is to use non-invasive ultrasound-based Lagrangian carotid strain imaging to assess arterial stiffness in determining CVD risk. Utilizing radiofrequency data from the right and left common carotid arteries (CCAs), we calculated the accumulated axial, lateral, and shear strain indices and the peak-to-peak mean strain values for segmented CCA walls. Data were collected from participants with carotid plaque and age-matched controls without plaque. Radiofrequency data from two cardiac cycles were used to calculate all strain measures. The Mann- Whitney U-Test was used to compare strain values between participants with plaque and participants without plaque. All mean strain values, except for the LCCA axial strain, were noted to be lower in the participants with plaque compared to the controls without plaque, although these findings were not statistically significantly different. . These findings suggest that participants with plaque may have stiffer arteries due to the lower strain values. This study needs to be performed in a larger cohort to see if these differences are statistically significantly different.
|
