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Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports
Published in: Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports 5/2015

01-05-2015 | Intravascular Imaging (I.-K. Jang, Section Editor)

An Integrated Backscatter Ultrasound Technique for Coronary Plaque Imaging

Author: Masanori Kawasaki

Published in: Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports | Issue 5/2015

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Abstract

The instability of atherosclerotic coronary plaques is related to their histological composition and the thickness of their fibrous caps. Therefore, recognition of the tissue characteristics of coronary plaques is important to understand and prevent coronary artery disease. Recently, an ultrasound integrated backscatter (IB) technique has been developed. Ultrasound signals have unique characteristics of reflection. That is, the ultrasound IB power ratio is a function of the difference in acoustic characteristic impedance between the medium and target tissue, and the acoustic characteristic impedance is determined by the density of tissue multiplied by the speed of sound. This principle allows for tissue characterization of coronary plaques for the risk stratification in patients with coronary artery disease. Two- and three-dimensional IB color-coded maps for the evaluation of tissue components can be constructed to detect four major components: fibrous, dense fibrosis, lipid pool, and calcification. Many studies have shown the reliability and usefulness of the IB technique.
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Metadata
Title
An Integrated Backscatter Ultrasound Technique for Coronary Plaque Imaging
Author
Masanori Kawasaki
Publication date
01-05-2015
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports / Issue 5/2015
Print ISSN: 1941-9066
Electronic ISSN: 1941-9074
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-015-9333-1

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