Walled Carotid Bifurcation Phantoms for Imaging Investigations of Vessel Wall Motion and Blood Flow Dynamics
Walled Carotid Bifurcation Phantoms for Imaging Investigations of Vessel Wall Motion and Blood Flow Dynamics
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DOI：
10.1109/tuffc.2016.2591946
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发表时间：
2016-11-01
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Yu, Alfred C. H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chee, Adrian J. Y.;Ho, Chung Kit;Yu, Alfred C. H.
颈动脉作为血管超声的主要应用领域，长期以来一直是拟人化体模设计的对象。然而，开发出兼容于颈动脉壁运动和血流动力学综合成像的壁状颈动脉模体并不是一件容易的事。在本文中，我们提出了一种新的体模设计方案，它可以有效地制造具有以下特点的壁状颈动脉分叉体模：1)高声学兼容性；2)动脉样血管弹性；3)狭窄特征。我们的方案首先使用计算机辅助设计工具和三维打印技术直接制造血管芯和外部模具；然后通过熔模铸造含有聚乙烯醇的混合物来建造弹性血管管，并在血管管周围形成琼脂-明胶组织仿真板。作为演示，我们应用我们的方案开发了一组健康的和狭窄的(25%、50%和75%)颈动脉分叉模型。利用具有通道级可配置性的超声扫描仪在这些体模上进行了平面波成像实验。结果表明，模型的室壁运动动力学符合脉搏波在弹性血管中的传播(在颈总动脉测得脉搏波速度为4.67+/-0.71m/S)，其流动动力学符合健康和狭窄的分叉处的预期流动动力学(观察到再循环和流动射流的形成)。我们还展示了我们的模体中血管壁运动和血流动力学的综合成像，从中我们观察到健康和患病的分叉模体之间的流体-结构相互作用的差异。这些发现表明，用我们的新方案开发的壁状分叉模体在单独或联合评估室壁运动和血流动力学的血管成像研究中是有用的。
As a major application domain of vascular ultrasound, the carotid artery has long been the subject of anthropomorphic phantom design. It is nevertheless not trivial to develop walled carotid phantoms that are compatible for use in integrative imaging of carotid wall motion and flow dynamics. In this paper, we present a novel phantom design protocol that can enable efficient fabrication of walled carotid bifurcation phantoms with: 1) high acoustic compatibility; 2) artery-like vessel elasticity; and 3) stenotic narrowing feature. Our protocol first involved direct fabrication of the vessel core and an outer mold using computer-aided design tools and 3-D printing technology; these built parts were then used to construct an elastic vessel tube through investment casting of a polyvinyl alcohol containing mixture, and an agar-gelatin tissue mimicking slab was formed around the vessel tube. For demonstration, we applied our protocol to develop a set of healthy and stenosed (25%, 50%, and 75%) carotid bifurcation phantoms. Plane wave imaging experiments were performed on these phantoms using an ultrasound scanner with channel-level configurability. Results show that the wall motion dynamics of our phantoms agreed with pulse wave propagation in an elastic vessel (pulse wave velocity of 4.67 +/- 0.71 m/s measured at the common carotid artery), and their flow dynamics matched the expected ones in healthy and stenosed bifurcation (recirculation and flow jet formation observed). Integrative imaging of vessel wall motion and blood flow dynamics in our phantoms was also demonstrated, from which we observed fluid-structure interaction differences between healthy and diseased bifurcation phantoms. These findings show that the walled bifurcation phantoms developed with our new protocol are useful in vascular imaging studies that individually or jointly assess wall motion and flow dynamics.