Institution of Medical Imaging, The Affiliated Changsha Central Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Changsha, China.
Institution of Medical Imaging, University of South China, Hengyang, China.
Cerebrovasc Dis. 2024;53(4):479-487. doi: 10.1159/000534372. Epub 2023 Oct 9.
The rupture and detachment of unstable plaques in the carotid artery can cause embolism in the cerebral artery, leading to acute cerebrovascular events. Intraplaque neovascularization (IPN) is a very important contributor to carotid plaque instability, and its evolution plays a key role in determining the outcome of vulnerable plaques. Ultrasound techniques, represented by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI), are reported to be non-invasive, rapid, and effective techniques for the semi-quantitative or quantitative evaluation for IPN. Although ultrasound techniques have been widely applied in the detection of carotid plaque stability, it has been limited owing to the lack of unified IPN quantitative standards.
This review summarizes the application and semi-quantitative/quantitative diagnostic standards of ultrasound techniques in evaluating IPN and looks forward to the prospects of the future research. With the development of novel techniques like artificial intelligence, ultrasound will offer appropriate selections for achieving more accuracy diagnosis.
A large number of studies have used CEUS and SMI to detect IPN and perform semi-quantitative grading to predict the occurrence of diseases such as stroke and to accurately assess drug efficacy based on rating changes. These studies have made great progress at this stage, but more accurate and intelligent quantitative imaging methods should become the future development goal.
颈动脉不稳定斑块的破裂和脱落可导致脑动脉栓塞，引发急性脑血管事件。斑块内新生血管（IPN）是导致颈动脉斑块不稳定的一个非常重要的因素，其演变在确定易损斑块的结局方面起着关键作用。以对比增强超声（CEUS）和超微血流成像（SMI）为代表的超声技术被报道为用于 IPN 的半定量或定量评估的一种非侵入性、快速且有效的技术。尽管超声技术已广泛应用于检测颈动脉斑块稳定性，但由于缺乏统一的 IPN 定量标准，其应用受到限制。
本文综述了超声技术在评估 IPN 中的应用和半定量/定量诊断标准，并展望了未来的研究前景。随着人工智能等新技术的发展，超声将为实现更准确的诊断提供合适的选择。
大量研究已经使用 CEUS 和 SMI 来检测 IPN，并进行半定量分级，以预测中风等疾病的发生，并根据评分变化准确评估药物疗效。这些研究在现阶段取得了很大进展，但更准确和智能的定量成像方法应成为未来的发展目标。
