Automatic Methods for Carotid Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging Quantification of Adventitial Vasa Vasorum

Adventitial vasa vasorum are physiologic microvessels that nourish artery walls. In the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, these microvessels proliferate abnormally. Studies have reported that they are the first stage of atheromatous disease. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the carotid...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pereira, Tania, Muguruza, José, Virtu, Maria, Vilaprinyo Terré, Ester, Sorribas Tello, Albert, Fernández i Giráldez, Elvira, Fernández Armenteros, José Manuel, Baena-Fustegueras, Juan A, Rius, Ferran, Betriu i Bars, M. Àngels, Solsona Tehàs, Francesc, Alves, Rui
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/465105
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2018.07.027
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/465105
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Vasa Vasorum
Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound
Carotid Artery
Automatic Image analysis
Atherosclerosis
Adventitial Layer
Descripción
Sumario:Adventitial vasa vasorum are physiologic microvessels that nourish artery walls. In the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, these microvessels proliferate abnormally. Studies have reported that they are the first stage of atheromatous disease. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the carotid allows direct, quantitative and non-invasive visualization of the adventitial vasa vasorum. Hence, the development of computer-assisted methods that speed image analysis and eliminate user subjectivity is important. We developed methods for automatic analyses and quantification of vasa vasorum neovascularization in CEUS and tested these methods in a cohort of 186 individuals, 63 of whom were healthy volunteers. We implemented alternative automatic strategies for using the images to stratify patients according to their risk group and compare the strategies with respect to diagnostic performance. An automatic single-parameter strategy performs less effectively than the corresponding Arcidiacono method based on manual interpretation of the images (68 < area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] for the manual Arcidiacono method < 82; 60 < AUROC for the automatic single-parameter strategy < 63). However, by use of additional image parameters, an automatic multiparameter strategy has significantly improved performance with respect to the manual Arcidiacono method (78 < AUROC < 90). The automatic multiparameter strategy is a valuable alternative to the manual Arcidiacono method, improving both diagnostic speed and diagnostic accuracy.