ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the significance of superb microvascular imaging (SMI) for the detection of neovascularization in carotid atherosclerotic plaques.Methods SMI detected 28 carotid atherosclerotic plaques in 28 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy.The SMI grade of carotid plaque neovascularization was assigned based on the following grading system:Grade 0,no neovascularization;grade 1,some neovascularization;grade 2,neovascularization observed in the shoulder of the plaque;and grade 3,widely distributed new blood vessels.SMI was used to evaluate the degree of blood flow,maximum flow velocity,and resistance index of the new vessels in the plaque.Microvascular density was measured with CD31 staining.Results Clear correlations were observed between neovascularization density on histopathological staining of the plaque and the degree of blood flow detected with SMI (rs=0.788,P ＜ 0.001).The classification of neovascular blood flow in the plaque was positively correlated with plaque thickness (rs=0.686,P=0.002).Of the 28 cases,neovascularization was detected in 23;of these 23 cases,the direction of blood flow was from the adventitia to the intima in 17 (75％) cases,while 6 (25％) cases showed an irregular direction of blood flow.The mean neovascular flow velocity was (5.620±0.131) cm/s,and the mean neovascular resistance index was 0.660 ± 0.090.Conclusion SMI is useful for the evaluation of carotid atherosclerotic plaque neovascularization.
ABSTRACT
Objective To observe features of twist of the left ventricle (LV) in patients of essential hypertension (EH) with LV normal geometry (LVN) by three-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (3D-STI).Methods Thirty EH patients with LVN and 32 healthy control subjects were included.From the dynamic images of LV apical two-and four-chamber-views and three-dimensional full volume dataset acquired,the following parameters were obtained:peak of LV basal,middle and apical segment rotation (Prot-B,Prot-M and Prot-A),peak of LV global segment twist (LV-tw) and rotation (LV-rot),the global radial and longitudinal displacement (Dr,Dl) and the global 3D displacement (D3d).The difference of these parameters was compared between EH and control groups,and the correlation between LV-tw and the displacements in EH group was studied.Results Compared with the normal control group,Prot-B,Prot-M,Prot-A,LV-tw,LV-rot,Dr,Dl and D3d of EH group were significantly increased (P ＜ 0.01 or 0.05),and LV-tw showed significant correlation with Dr,Dl and D3d (P ＜0.01 or 0.05).Conclusions The evaluation of LV twist with 3DSTI in EH patients can reflect the changes of LV systolic function in early stage,3D-STI may provide a new modality for quantitative evaluation of early abnormality of LV function in clinical practice.