TISSUE CHARACTERISATION USING INTRAVASCULAR ECHOSCOPY

摘要

Calcification of an artery wall and the presence of degenerative plaque on an artery are two symptoms of arterial disease. Ultrasonic echoscopy is used to monitor the presence of calcification of an artery wall. An intravascular transducer (10) at a location within an artery (15) is used to obtain frames of ultrasound during at least one cardiac cycle of a subject. The ultrasound data obtained is processed to produce an indication of the elasticity of the artery wall (12), namely the average fractional deformation of each region of the arterial tissue. This "elasticity" data is displayed simultaneously with an image of the artery wall. The presence of degenerative plaque is determined using intravascular echoscopy and monitoring the frequency content of echoes produced by backscatter from the tisue in the artery wall. The parameter known as the "attenuation slope" of the ultrasound echoes is used as a measure of their frequency content. The values of this parameter are displayed on the conventional grey scale image of the artery cross section at the point of measurement.