Movements Plaque The carotid artery is believed to move in a pulsatile manner during the cardiac cycle, a phenomenon that can be quantified using a variety of metrics including maximal surface velocities11,13, radial and longitudinal velocities22, displacement vector maps23 and tissues strain24-26. But, there is little information about the relative motions of the plaque as well as its adjacent wall as well as within the plaque itself. This study was designed to examine the synchronisation patterns of plaques as well as their association with various plaque phenotypes like the severity of stenosis, echogenicity and symptoms of patients. Methods The plaques were imaged with the B-mode ultrasound machine at a speed of 100 frames per second. The pixel locations of the PTS as well as PBS in three frames were used in motion analysis. The waveforms of the interrogated pixels were compared to the waveforms of wall ROIs and plaques. Cross-correlation was conducted for each pair. The cross-correlation indices (CC1 and CC2) were determined from each plaque. Seven statistical indices were calculated for each cross-correlation type, including maximum, minimum median, mean and standard deviation. They also included skewness, skewness, and kurtosis. These indices were subsequently distributed for each plaque, to calculate CC1 or CC2. The CC1 values were multiplied with the distances in radial directions between PTS and PBS pixels, while the CC2 value was multiplied by the absolute differences in their amplitudes between vertical pixels. Each plaque was assigned a phase shift. In order to measure inter-observer variability, the outlines of the plaque's boundaries were moved by 0-2 pixels with respect to expert-notated plaques. Movements Pillow that resulted were assessed, and statistical variations were determined. Data were collected from 20 high-stenosis (70 70%) plaques. In addition, two plaques of low risk were added for comparison purposes. Results Ultrasound studies have revealed that plaques show complex, multidirectional and sometimes cyclical movements during the heart cycle, despite having a low resolution image. This means that it is possible to draw details from motion analysis that could serve as an index of vulnerability9-12. Recent studies have revealed that there exist a variety of kinematic and strain indicators that could be linked to the risk of rupture in plaques 14-19. Of these indices, asynchronous intra-plaque motion in the longitudinal direction was the most significant. This is consistent with findings from previous studies showing that synchronous intra-plaque movement is linked to higher plaque burden20,26. These results suggest that synchronous motion patterns in plaque might be related to more vulnerability, and therefore should be considered in future clinical studies that aim to examine the phenotypes of plaque.
Movements Pillow
