Garcia-Duitama Julian, Chayer Boris, Garcia Damien, Goussard Yves, Cloutier Guy
Laboratory of Biorheology and Medical Ultrasonics, University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Laboratory of Biorheology and Medical Ultrasonics, University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Unit of Biomechanics and Imaging in Cardiology, CRCHUM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Radiology, Radio-oncology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2017 Dec;43(12):2871-2881. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.08.005. Epub 2017 Sep 22.
Erythrocyte aggregation is a non-specific marker of acute and chronic inflammation. Although it is usual to evaluate this phenomenon from blood samples analyzed in laboratory instruments, in vivo real-time assessment of aggregation is possible with spectral ultrasound techniques. However, variable blood flow can affect the interpretation of acoustic measures. Therefore, flow standardization is required. Two techniques of flow standardization were evaluated with porcine and equine blood samples in Couette flow. These techniques consisted in either stopping the flow or reducing it. Then, the sensibility and repeatability of the retained method were evaluated in 11 human volunteers. We observed that stopping the flow compromised interpretation and repeatability. Conversely, maintaining a low flow provided repeatable measures and could distinguish between normal and high extents of erythrocyte aggregation. Agreement was observed between in vivo and ex vivo measures of the phenomenon (R = 82.7%, p value < 0.0001). These results support the feasibility of assessing in vivo erythrocyte aggregation in humans by quantitative ultrasound means.
红细胞聚集是急慢性炎症的一种非特异性标志物。虽然通常是通过在实验室仪器中分析血液样本对这一现象进行评估，但利用频谱超声技术可以对聚集进行体内实时评估。然而，血流变化会影响声学测量结果的解读。因此，需要进行血流标准化。在库埃特流中，用猪和马的血液样本对两种血流标准化技术进行了评估。这些技术包括停止血流或降低血流速度。然后，在11名人类志愿者中评估了所保留方法的敏感性和可重复性。我们观察到，停止血流会影响测量结果的解读和可重复性。相反，保持低血流速度可提供可重复的测量结果，并且能够区分正常和高度的红细胞聚集。该现象的体内和体外测量结果之间具有一致性（R = 82.7%，p值<0.0001）。这些结果支持了通过定量超声手段在人体中评估体内红细胞聚集的可行性。
