In vivo ocular microvasculature imaging in rabbits with 3D ultrasound localization microscopy.
Ultrasonics
; 133: 107022, 2023 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37178486
ABSTRACT
Morphological and hemodynamic changes in the ocular vasculature are important signs of various ocular diseases. The evaluation of the ocular microvasculature with high resolution is valuable in comprehensive diagnoses. However, it is difficult for current optical imaging techniques to visualize the posterior segment and retrobulbar microvasculature due to the limited penetration depth of light, particularly when the refractive medium is opaque. Thus, we have developed a 3D ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) imaging method to visualize the ocular microvasculature in rabbits with micron-scale resolution. We used a 32 × 32 matrix array transducer (center frequency 8 MHz) with a compounding plane wave sequence and microbubbles. Block-wise singular value decomposition spatiotemporal clutter filtering and block-matching 3D denoising were implemented to extract the flowing microbubble signals at different imaging depths with high signal-to-noise ratios. The center points of microbubbles were localized and tracked in 3D space to achieve the micro-angiography. The in vivo results demonstrate the ability of 3D ULM to visualize the microvasculature of the eye in rabbits, where vessels down to 54 µm were successfully revealed. Moreover, the microvascular maps indicated the morphological abnormalities in the eye with retinal detachment. This efficient modality shows potential for use in the diagnosis of ocular diseases.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Angiografia
/
Microscopia
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ultrasonics
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
China