Himanshu Shekhar
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk with Nonlinear Intravascular Ultrasound Imaging
Tuesday, August 30
12:00- 1:00 PM
Goergen 101
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death in America. It is characterized by the deposition of plaque on the walls of the coronary arteries of the heart. Heart attacks occur when high-risk plaques rupture in the advanced stages of CAD, causing clots that block the oxygen supply to the heart, often resulting in death.
Currently, a significant issue facing cardiologists is that of reliably identifying rupture prone plaque. If plaque vulnerability can be objectively assessed, aggressive drug therapy/ interventional methods can be employed to save those most at risk. However, X-ray angiography, the current clinical imaging technique for coronary imaging, is limited in its ability to assess plaque vulnerability.
My presentation will provide an overview of our efforts towards developing a diagnostic imaging technique to reliably predict the rupture proneness of coronary plaque.
We are adapting Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS), for the assessment of the functional features of CAD by exploiting the nonlinear acoustic behavior of Ultrasound Contrast Agents. Intravascular Ultrasound uses high frequency ultrasound to generate cross sectional images of the anatomy of the coronary artery with a catheterized transducer. Ultrasound Contrast Agents are stabilized micrometer sized bubbles, which enable the imaging of plaque vulnerability markers, such as neovascularity and perfusion. Nonlinear acoustic backscatter from ultrasound contrast agents enables higher imaging specificity.
My presentation would discuss the advantages associated with nonlinear imaging modes, the dynamics of ultrasound contrast agents and
