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Vascular Ultrasound Imaging with Contrast Agents: Carotid Plaque Neovascularization and the Hyperplastic Vasa Vasorum Network

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Ultrasound and Carotid Bifurcation Atherosclerosis

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Abstract

Despite continuing advances in the sensitivity of diagnostic ultrasound systems, Doppler-based imaging techniques are unable to detect low velocity blood flow in the microcirculation. The main difficulty these techniques share is that blood is a weak reflector of ultrasound with received amplitude 40–60 dB smaller than that of tissue. As a result, Doppler-based techniques rely solely on the movement of red blood cells to differentiate blood flow from tissue. The removal of this tissue signal places a lower limit on the ability to detect low velocity blood flow (<1 cm/s). A method to overcome these difficulties is to inject brighter reflectors than blood into the vascular system. Gas-filled microbubbles are one such reflector.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the help of Marios Lampaskis and Christina Keravnou with patient data analysis. This work is supported by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation through the grant Vasorum (Grant number: Ygeia/0506/06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Michalakis A. Averkiou & Christophoros Mannaris

  2. Imperial College and Vascular Screening and Diagnostic Centre, London, UK

    Andrew Nicolaides

Authors
  1. Michalakis A. Averkiou
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  2. Christophoros Mannaris
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  3. Andrew Nicolaides
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Imperial College, London, W2 1PG, United Kingdom

    Andrew Nicolaides

  2. , Dept. Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-6410, Washington, USA

    Kirk W. Beach

  3. Dept. Computer Science, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos Street 75, Nicosia, 1678, Cyprus

    Efthivoulos Kyriacou

  4. Dept. Computer Science, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos Street 75, Nicosia, 1678, Cyprus

    Constantinos S. Pattichis

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Averkiou, M.A., Mannaris, C., Nicolaides, A. (2011). Vascular Ultrasound Imaging with Contrast Agents: Carotid Plaque Neovascularization and the Hyperplastic Vasa Vasorum Network. In: Nicolaides, A., Beach, K., Kyriacou, E., Pattichis, C. (eds) Ultrasound and Carotid Bifurcation Atherosclerosis. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-688-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-688-5_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-687-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-688-5

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