ANR - Toward a novel powerful technique to detect in vivo human vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques: a synergic approach combining elastography and modulography methods

心血管疾病仍然是发达国家的头号杀手。急性冠状动脉综合征和/或心脏性猝死都是由易损冠状动脉粥样硬化斑块破裂引起的。此外，中风似乎是死亡的第三大原因和发病的主要原因。超过60%的脑梗塞是由易损斑块破裂引起的。在这种情况下，我们提出了一个法国/加拿大多学科联盟（MELANII）开发新的超声（US）为基础的成像工具，以评估脆弱的冠状动脉和颈动脉壁的机械稳定性，分别。这项研究是及时的，因为现在已经确定，机械应力影响几个细胞过程的起源，往往是致命的血栓形成事件，包括巨噬细胞迁移的斑块内，血管壁重塑和斑块血管生成的调制，这是中央斑块的脆弱性状态。参与该资助申请的加拿大科学家开发了强大的弹性成像方法（EVE和NIVE）并获得专利，以估计US血管壁内的变形。与此同时，法国合作伙伴设计了一种互补成像模块图工具（iMOD）并获得专利，通过突出所有斑块成分的弹性（模块图）更进一步。在法国或加拿大都找不到血管弹性成像和模块化成像方面的这种综合专业知识。这项为期3年的MELANII法国/加拿大赠款（国际BLANC计划）的主要目标是：1）设计一种新型的半自动“弹性成像/模块化/形态学”工具，结合法国iMOD算法的性能

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in developed countries. Acute coronary syndromes and/or sudden cardiac death are both caused by the rupture of a vulnerable coronary atherosclerotic plaque. In addition, stroke appears to be the third cause of death and the leading cause of morbidity. More than 60% of all cerebral infarctions are caused by the rupture of a vulnerable plaque. In this context, we are proposing a French / Canadian pluridisciplinary consortium (MELANII) to develop new ultrasound (US) based imaging tools to assess the mechanical stability of vulnerable coronary and carotid artery walls, respectively. This research is timely since it is now established that mechanical stress affects several cellular processes at the origin of an often fatal thrombotic event, including macrophage migration within the plaque, vessel wall remodelling and modulation of plaque angiogenesis, which are central to the plaque's vulnerability status. Canadian scientists involved in this grant application developed and patented robust elastography approaches (EVE and NIVE) to estimate, with US, deformations within the vascular wall. Concomitantly, French partners designed and patented a complementary imaging modulography tool (iMOD) to go one step further by highlighting the elasticity of all plaque constituents (modulogram). Such a combined expertise in vascular elastography and modulography cannot be found in either France or Canada. The main objectives of this 3-year MELANII France/Canada grant (programme BLANC international) are: 1) to design a novel semi-automatic "elastography /modulography/morphology" tool combining the performances of the French's iMOD algorithm