School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Block N3, Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798.
J Biomech Eng. 2020 Nov 1;142(11). doi: 10.1115/1.4048423.
Carotid artery stenosis is a form of atherosclerosis, where thrombus formation restricts the passage of blood through the carotid artery leading to irreversible damage in the brain tissue. The presence of stenosis in the carotid artery results in abnormal temperature maps on the external skin surface, which can be captured and quantified using noncontact/noninvasive infrared (IR) thermal imaging/thermography. In this study, a thermally charged in vitro carotid artery flow loop, using 0% and 75% stenosis models, was designed to study the thermal effect on the external skin surface. The carotid artery flow was encapsulated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) resembling neck tissue, of which the external surface temperature maps were studied using IR thermography. Using the mean temperature as a threshold value, the resultant thermal image was processed and normalized. Between the two stenosis models, disruption in the thermal features corresponding to the presence of stenosis was observed. The method described in this study paves the path to experimentally study the thermal effect of the presence of stenosis in the carotid artery.
颈动脉狭窄是动脉粥样硬化的一种形式，血栓形成会限制颈动脉内的血液流动，导致脑组织不可逆转的损伤。颈动脉狭窄会导致外部皮肤表面出现异常温度图谱，可以使用非接触/非侵入性的红外（IR）热成像/测温技术来捕捉和量化这些图谱。在这项研究中，设计了一个带电荷的体外颈动脉血流循环回路，使用 0%和 75%狭窄模型来研究对外皮表面的热效应。颈动脉血流被包裹在聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）中，类似于颈部组织，使用 IR 热成像研究其外部表面温度图谱。使用平均温度作为阈值，对所得的热图像进行处理和归一化。在这两种狭窄模型之间，观察到与狭窄存在相对应的热特征的中断。本研究中描述的方法为实验研究颈动脉狭窄存在的热效应铺平了道路。
