Real-Time Elastography Visualization and Histopathological Characterization of Rabbit Atherosclerotic Carotid Arteries

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：ZhenZhen Wang^&lowast ; ; NaNa Liu^&lowast ; ; LiFeng Zhang^&dagger ; ; XiaoYing Li^&lowast ; ; XueSong Han^&lowast ; ; YanQing Peng^&lowast ; ; MeiZheng Dang^&lowast ; ; LiTao Sun^&lowast ; ; ^{litaosun1971@sina.com" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; JiaWei Tian^&lowast ; ; ^{jwtianhmu@126.com" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Atherosclerosis ; Plaques ; Ultrasound ; Real-time elastography ; Rabbit carotid artery ; Histology
• 刊名：Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：January 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：42
• 期：1
• 页码：176-184
• 全文大小：2115 K

文摘

To evaluate the feasibility of non-invasive vascular real-time elastography imaging (RTE) in visualizing the composition of rabbit carotid atherosclerotic plaque as determined by histopathology, a rabbit model of accelerated carotid atherosclerosis was used. Thirty rabbits were randomly divided into two groups of 15 rabbits each. The first group was fed a cholesterol-rich diet and received balloon-induced injury the left common carotid artery endothelium, whereas the second group only received a cholesterol-rich diet. The rabbits were all examined in vivo with HITACHI non-invasive vascular real-time elastography (Hi-RTE) at baseline and 12 wk, and results from the elastography were compared with American Heart Association histologic classifications. Hi-RTE and the American Heart Association histologic classifications had good agreement, with weighted Cohen's kappa (95% confidence internal) of 0.785 (0.649–0.920). Strains of segmented plaques that were stained in different colors were statistically different (p < 0.0001). The sensitivity and specificity of elastograms for detecting a lipid core were 95.5% and 61.5%, respectively, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.789, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.679 to 0.876. This study is the first to indicate the feasibility of utilizing Hi-RTE in visualizing normal and atherosclerotic rabbit carotid arteries non-invasively. This affordable and reliable method can be widely applied in research of both animal and human peripheral artery atherosclerosis.