Comparison of 2D SURE and 3D CT imaging of cortical vessels in a rat kidney

Lauge Naur Hansen*, Hans Martin Kjer, Mostafa Amin-Naji, Nathalie Sarup Panduro, Charlotte Mehlin Sørensen, Carsten Gundlach, Anders Bjorholm Dahl, Jørgen Arendt Jensen

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportKonferencebidrag i proceedingsForskningpeer review

Abstract

SUper-Resolution ultrasound imaging using the Erythrocytes (SURE) can visualize blood vessels at about 25 to 50 μm resolution, but validation is required to assess how accurately the vasculature and its morphology are represented. Previous work compared ultrasound imaging to maximum intensity projections (MIP) of micro-CT volumes at an insufficient voxel size of 22.6 μm. Here, a 5 μm voxel size micro-CT volume of a cortical region in an excised rat kidney was acquired to test the hypothesis that blood vessels down to 50 μm in diameter are detected with SURE imaging. For the micro-CT volume, the blood vessels were segmented by an intensity threshold, and local thickness estimates were computed using expanding spheres within the segmentation mask. An affine registration between the SURE image and the micro-CT volume was manually defined, and a MIP of the micro-CT volume across 2 mm from the ultrasound imaging plane was computed for vessels with diameter estimates greater than 50 μm. The SURE image depicts 12 cortical radial vessels with high intensities and 9 dimmer cortical radial vessels. Notably, the 12 high intensity vessels are also depicted in the micro-CT projection, but 5 cortical radial vessels and 2 arcuate blood vessels are only visible in the SURE image. Of the faintly depicted cortical radial vessels, 5 vessels are not readily matched to vessels in the micro-CT projection. On the other hand, the micro-CT projection contains 6 cortical radial vessel segments and 2 arcuate blood vessels not depicted in the SURE image. These discrepancies in the comparison may arise from the challenging registration of the ultrasound focus beam and the micro-CT volume that is complicated further by the different states of the imaged tissue. Despite these challenges, SURE depicts most vessels at least down to 50 μm and even resolves parallel vessels not visible in the micro-CT projection, thus highlighting its clinical potential.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Titel2023 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)
UdgivelsesstedMontreal, QC, Canada
ForlagIEEE
Publikationsdato2023
Sider1-4
ISBN (Trykt)979-8-3503-4646-6
ISBN (Elektronisk)979-8-3503-4645-9
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023
Begivenhed2023 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS 2023 - Montreal, Canada
Varighed: 3 sep. 20238 sep. 2023

Konference

Konference2023 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS 2023
Land/OmrådeCanada
ByMontreal
Periode03/09/202308/09/2023
SponsorIEEE, IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society (UFFC)
NavnIEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS
ISSN1948-5719

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT The work was financially supported by ERC synergy grant 854796 - SURE from the European Research Council.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.

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