Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States; Carle Illinois College of Medicine, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States.
Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States.
Z Med Phys. 2023 Aug;33(3):309-323. doi: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.001. Epub 2023 May 20.
The field of super-resolution ultrasound microvascular imaging has been rapidly growing over the past decade. By leveraging contrast microbubbles as point targets for localization and tracking, super-resolution ultrasound pinpoints the location of microvessels and measures their blood flow velocity. Super-resolution ultrasound is the first in vivo imaging modality that can image micron-scale vessels at a clinically relevant imaging depth without tissue destruction. These unique capabilities of super-resolution ultrasound provide structural (vessel morphology) and functional (vessel blood flow) assessments of tissue microvasculature on a global and local scale, which opens new doors for many enticing preclinical and clinical applications that benefit from microvascular biomarkers. The goal of this short review is to provide an update on recent advancements in super-resolution ultrasound imaging, with a focus on summarizing existing applications and discussing the prospects of translating super-resolution imaging to clinical practice and research. In this review, we also provide brief introductions of how super-resolution ultrasound works, how does it compare with other imaging modalities, and what are the tradeoffs and limitations for an audience who is not familiar with the technology.
在过去的十年中，超分辨率超声微血管成像领域发展迅速。通过利用对比微泡作为定位和跟踪的点状目标，超分辨率超声可以精确定位微血管的位置并测量其血流速度。超分辨率超声是首个能够在不破坏组织的情况下，在临床相关的成像深度对亚微米级血管进行成像的体内成像方式。超分辨率超声的这些独特功能提供了组织微血管的结构（血管形态）和功能（血管血流）评估，可在全局和局部范围内进行，为许多受益于微血管生物标志物的诱人的临床前和临床应用开辟了新的途径。本文综述的目的是提供超分辨率超声成像的最新进展，重点总结现有应用，并讨论将超分辨率成像转化为临床实践和研究的前景。在这篇综述中，我们还简要介绍了超分辨率超声的工作原理，它与其他成像方式的比较，以及对于不熟悉该技术的读者的权衡和局限性。
