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A Research Study On Vascular Imaging

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Introduction
Vascular ultrasound (US) is an established non-invasive method of imaging the cardiovascular system. It is cheap, accessible and provides a rapid diagnosis of many vascular diseases such as presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm, deep vein thrombosis and limb arterial occlusions. The majority of vascular ultrasound currently done in the UK is trans-cutaneous ultrasound, in which the US probe obtains images of the vessels from above the skin.
In recent years intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has gained popularity in obtaining high-resolution images of the blood vessels from inside the vascular lumen, providing detailed information of the vascular lesions and their anatomy.
In this review, utilisation of IVUS in different areas of …show more content…

The standard IVUS sheaths are 9 Fr with a 0.035 inch guidewire, however 0.014 inch catheters are available for smaller arteries (Kpodonu et al., 2008).
Once inside the target vessel, IVUS obtains 360 degrees cross sectional images. The sonic wave reflections from the arterial wall differ depending on the structure of the arterial wall components. Collagen and elastin produce a stronger sonic reflection thus a hyper-echoic picture of the intima and adventitia, whilst the smooth muscle cells in the media produce a hypo-echoic picture due to reduced sonic reflection from these structures (Kpodonu et al., 2008). New generation IVUS devices can produce three-dimensional pictures by stacking the two-dimensional axial images during pull back of the US catheter. The pull back could be done either manually or mechanically using a motor. 3-D images are useful in assessment of endovascular device deployment failures, which might not be detected in conventional angiographies. 3-D images are also helpful in sizing of the arteries and veins for endovascular device planning (Weissman et al., 1995; Heuser et al., 1997).
IVUS can provide B mode and colour images from inside the vessels. The transducers’ frequencies are generally between 10 MHz and 40MHz (Lee and White, 2004). New generation IVUS with frequencies of 40MHz to 50MHz are useful for imaging the coronary arteries (Lee and White, 2004).
Although higher frequencies can produce higher resolution images, this would

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