Non-invasive shear strain ultrasound elastography of carotid atherosclerotic plaques for stroke prevention

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Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in developed countries. More than 60% of all cerebral infarctions are caused by the rupture of a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque leading to vascular thrombosis, detachment of the blood clot, its migration and obstruction of downstream blood vessels. We are proposing the development of ultrasound (US) elastography imaging tools to assess the mechanical stability of vulnerable carotid artery walls. Three objectives are proposed in this grant: 1) determine differences in shear strain magnitude within the carotid artery wall between vulnerable and non vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, 2) develop plane wave US imaging with compounding to improve the lateral assessment of the deformation matrix, and 3) develop an US beam forming strategy to produce transverse oscillations for optimum axial and lateral shear strain imaging. Shear strain US imaging will be implemented in a research platform software with optimized codes and CPU/GPU computation (Object Research System, Canada). Another technology end users that manifested their interest in commercializing these new imaging methods is Ultrasonix Medical Corporation (Vancouver, Canada). Benefits to Canadians are to provide them an imaging technology for prospective evaluation of atherosclerotic carotid plaques at risk of rupture. Such assessment is currently not possible with state-of-the-art technologies.