Blood Flow in Small Animals by Ultrasound

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请提出开发一种超声技术，该技术使用基于微泡的造影剂来测量小鼠肿瘤中的血流。为了实现这一目标，研究人员开发了一种多路脉冲序列，允许在注射造影剂期间以可变帧率获取超声图像。微气泡被破坏的速率作为图像采集的函数用于测量对比度流。总体目标是验证这种方法，并将其发展为一种可用于日常测量流量的形式。拟议的研究有五个具体目标，包括：(i)进一步改进该技术，（ii）通过与幻影和小鼠肿瘤中的真实流量进行比较来验证该技术，（iii）确定各种成像和造影剂特性对测量结果的影响，（iv）确定受试者之间和受试者内部测量差异的限制；(v)证明测量生理和治疗干预下血流变化的技术的可行性。在这个项目完成后，研究人员期望有一个全面评估的方法来评估血流量使用超声造影剂。随着各种造影剂在临床应用的批准即将得到监管机构的批准，这项技术是及时的，很可能在许多癌症和心血管疾病的诊断和治疗中有用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application proposes to develop an ultrasound technique that uses microbubble-based contrast agents to measure blood flow in mouse tumors. Towards this goal, the investigators have developed a multigating pulse sequence that allows acquisition of ultrasound images at a variable frame rate during bolus injection of the contrast agent. The rate at which the microbubbles are destroyed as a function of image acquisition is used to measure contrast flow. The overall goal is to validate this approach and to develop it to a form that can be used to measure flow on a routine basis. The proposed research has five specific aims involving (i) further refinement of the technique, (ii) its validation by comparison with true flow in phantoms and mouse tumors, (iii) establishing the influence of various imaging and contrast agent properties on the measurements, (iv) establishing the limits imposed by inter- and intra- subject variability in the measurements and (v) demonstrating the feasibility of the technique for measuring change in blood flow in response to physiological and therapeutic interventions. At the completion of this project the investigators anticipate having a thoroughly evaluated method for the assessment of blood flow using ultrasound contrast agents. With the approval of various contrast agents for use in clinics by the regulatory agencies impending, this technology is timely and is likely to useful in the diagnosis and treatment of many cancers and cardiovascular diseases.