Kavvadas Dimitrios, Rafailidis Vasileios, Partovi Sasan, Tegos Thomas, Kallia Zoi, Savvoulidis Panagiotis, Papamitsou Theodora, Prassopoulos Panos
Department of Clinical Radiology, AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Interventional Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2025 Jan 27;15(3):303. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics15030303.
Carotid artery stiffness is associated with aging and atherosclerotic disease, leading to cerebrovascular events. Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) is a novel ultrasound technique offering a direct, quantitative assessment of the arterial wall elasticity. The aim of this study is to validate the technical feasibility of SWE in measuring carotid stiffness (CS). A literature search was performed across the PubMed and Scopus databases, with keywords including "carotid stiffness", "Shear Wave Elastography", "atherosclerosis", and "vascular elasticity". The findings reveal the potential of SWE in quantifying carotid Intima-Media Complex (IMC) stiffness, with implications for the early diagnosis of vascular disease, aiding in clinical decision making and prognostic assessment. Based on the findings of the literature search, a small pilot study was conducted involving 10 participants, using the Philips EPIQ Elite system for the SWE measurements. The technical analysis revealed optimizing the region of interest (ROI) size, probe positioning, and cine-loop analysis as crucial factors for obtaining accurate results. The results of the literature review and small pilot study demonstrate the potential of SWE as a non-invasive method for assessing carotid stiffness. Certain technical adjustments, such as smaller ROIs and careful probe placement, improved the accuracy and repeatability of carotid SWE measurements. Further studies are needed to assess and standardize carotid SWE across larger patient populations.
颈动脉僵硬度与衰老和动脉粥样硬化疾病相关，可导致脑血管事件。剪切波弹性成像（SWE）是一种新型超声技术，可对动脉壁弹性进行直接、定量评估。本研究的目的是验证SWE测量颈动脉僵硬度（CS）的技术可行性。通过在PubMed和Scopus数据库中进行文献检索，关键词包括“颈动脉僵硬度”“剪切波弹性成像”“动脉粥样硬化”和“血管弹性”。研究结果揭示了SWE在量化颈动脉内膜中层复合体（IMC）僵硬度方面的潜力，对血管疾病的早期诊断具有重要意义，有助于临床决策和预后评估。基于文献检索结果，开展了一项小型试点研究，纳入10名参与者，使用飞利浦EPIQ Elite系统进行SWE测量。技术分析表明，优化感兴趣区域（ROI）大小、探头定位和电影环分析是获得准确结果的关键因素。文献综述和小型试点研究结果证明了SWE作为评估颈动脉僵硬度的非侵入性方法的潜力。某些技术调整，如较小的ROI和仔细的探头放置，提高了颈动脉SWE测量的准确性和可重复性。需要进一步研究以评估和规范更大患者群体中的颈动脉SWE。
