López-Melgar Beatriz, Mass Virgina, Nogales Paula, Sánchez-González Javier, Entrekin Robert, Collet-Billon Antoine, Rossello Xavier, Fernández-Friera Leticia, Fernández-Ortiz Antonio, Sanz Javier, Bentzon Jacob F, Bueno Héctor, Ibáñez Borja, Fuster Valentín
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain; Cardiology Department, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, IIS-IP La Princesa, Madrid, Spain; HM CIEC MADRID (Centro Integral de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares), Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, HM Hospitales, Madrid, Spain.
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain.
JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2022 Jun;15(6):1124-1135. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2022.01.005. Epub 2022 Mar 16.
Carotid and femoral plaque burden is a recognized biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk. A new electronic-sweep 3-dimensional (3D)-matrix transducer method can improve the functionality and image quality of vascular ultrasound atherosclerosis imaging.
This study aimed to validate this method for plaque volume measurement in early and intermediate-advanced plaques in the carotid and femoral territories.
Plaque volumes were measured ex vivo in pig carotid and femoral artery specimens by 3-dimensional vascular ultrasound (3DVUS) using a 3D-matrix (electronic-sweep) transducer and its associated 3D plaque quantification software, and were compared with gold-standard histology. To test the clinical feasibility and accuracy of the 3D-matrix transducer, an experiment was conducted in intermediate-high risk individuals with carotid and femoral atherosclerosis. The results were compared with those obtained using the previously validated mechanical-sweep 3D transducer and established 2-dimensional (2D)-based plaque quantification software.
In the ex vivo study, the authors assessed 19 atherosclerotic plaques (plaque volume, 0.76 µL-56.30 μL), finding strong agreement between measurements with the 3D-matrix transducer and the histological gold-standard (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.992; [95% CI: 0.978-0.997]). In the clinical analysis of 20 patients (mean age 74.6 ± 4.45 years; 40% men), the authors found 64 (36 carotid and 28 femoral) of 80 scanned territories with atherosclerosis (measured atherosclerotic volume, 10 μL-859 μL). There was strong agreement between measurements made from electronic-sweep and mechanical-sweep 3DVUS transducers (ICC: 0.997 [95% CI: 0.995-0.998]). Agreement was also high between plaque volumes estimated by the 2D and 3D plaque quantification software applications (ICC: 0.999 [95% CI: 0.998-0.999]). Analysis time was significantly shorter with the 3D plaque quantification software than with the 2D multislice approach with a mean time reduction of 46%.
3DVUS using new matrix transducer technology, together with improved 3D plaque quantification software, simplifies the accurate volume measurement of early (small) and intermediate-advanced plaques located in carotid and femoral arteries.
颈动脉和股动脉斑块负荷是公认的心血管疾病风险生物标志物。一种新型电子扫描三维（3D）矩阵换能器方法可改善血管超声动脉粥样硬化成像的功能和图像质量。
本研究旨在验证该方法在测量颈动脉和股动脉区域早期及中晚期斑块体积方面的有效性。
使用3D矩阵（电子扫描）换能器及其相关的3D斑块定量软件，通过三维血管超声（3DVUS）对猪颈动脉和股动脉标本进行离体斑块体积测量，并与金标准组织学方法进行比较。为测试3D矩阵换能器的临床可行性和准确性，对患有颈动脉和股动脉粥样硬化的中高危个体进行了一项实验。将结果与使用先前验证的机械扫描3D换能器和既定的基于二维（2D）的斑块定量软件所获得的结果进行比较。
在离体研究中，作者评估了19个动脉粥样硬化斑块（斑块体积为0.76µL - 56.30µL），发现3D矩阵换能器测量结果与组织学金标准之间具有高度一致性（组内相关系数[ICC]：0.992；[95%CI：0.978 - 0.997]）。在对20例患者（平均年龄74.6±4.45岁；40%为男性）的临床分析中，作者在80个扫描区域中发现64个（36个颈动脉和28个股动脉）存在动脉粥样硬化（测量的动脉粥样硬化体积为10µL - 859µL）。电子扫描和机械扫描3DVUS换能器的测量结果之间具有高度一致性（ICC：0.997 [95%CI：0.995 - 0.998]）。2D和3D斑块定量软件应用估计的斑块体积之间的一致性也很高（ICC：0.999 [95%CI：0.998 - 0.999]）。使用3D斑块定量软件的分析时间明显短于2D多层方法，平均时间减少了46%。
采用新型矩阵换能器技术的3DVUS，结合改进的3D斑块定量软件，简化了位于颈动脉和股动脉的早期（小）及中晚期斑块的准确体积测量。
