The Imaging Modulography Technique Revisited for High-Definition Intravascular Ultrasound: Theoretical Framework

Antoine Tacheau (1) , Simon Le Floc'H (2, 3) , Gérard Finet (4) , Marvin M Doyley (5) , Roderic Pettigrew (6) , Guy Cloutier (7) , Jacques Ohayon (8, 1)

1 TIMC-IMAG-DyCTiM2 - Dynamiques Cellulaire et Tissulaire - Interdisciplinarité, Modélisation & Microscopie
2 LMGC - Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil
3 BIOTIC - Biomécanique des Interactions et de l'Organisation des Tissus et des Cellules
4 Hôpital Louis Pradel [CHU - HCL]
5 University of Rochester [USA]
6 NIH - National Institutes of Health [Bethesda, MD, USA]
7 CHUM - Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
8 EPU [Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de l'Université de Savoie] - Polytech Annecy-Chambéry

Mechanical characterization of atherosclerotic lesions remains an essential step for the detection of vulnerable plaques (VPs). Recently, an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) elasticity reconstruction method (iMOD) has been tested in vivo by our group. The major limitation of iMOD is the need to estimate the strain field in the entire VP despite attenuated depth penetration signals when using high-definition (HD) IVUS systems. Therefore, an extended iMOD approach (E-iMOD) was designed and applied to coronary lesions of patients imaged in vivo with IVUS. The E-iMOD method (i) quantified necrotic core areas with a mean absolute relative error of 3.5 ± 3.5% and (ii) identified Young's moduli of the necrotic cores and fibrous regions with mean values of 5.7 ± 0.8 kPa and 794.5 ± 22.0 kPa instead of 5 kPa and 800 kPa, respectively. This study demonstrates the potential of the improved HD-IVUS modulography technique E-iMOD to characterize coronary VPs.

Mots clés: Elastography; Modulography; Linear elasticity; Inverse problem; Vulnerable plaques; Coronary disease

Domaines: Imagerie

Antoine Tacheau, Simon Le Floc'H, Gérard Finet, Marvin M Doyley, Roderic Pettigrew, et al.. The Imaging Modulography Technique Revisited for High-Definition Intravascular Ultrasound: Theoretical Framework. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 2016, 42 (3), pp.727-741. ⟨10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.11.015⟩. ⟨hal-01465820⟩