Samaneh CHOUPANI : Intravascular manometry by vector Doppler

Summary : 

Clinical context: This project involves the evaluation of the severity of vascular narrowing (stenosis). The measurement of pressure loss associated with vascular stenosis is usually performed by catheterization, an invasive medical procedure consisting of inserting a thin tube into the blood stream.
Objective: To develop and experimentally validate a non-invasive ultrasound technique, compatible with clinical requirements, for the measurement of pressure loss (pressure drop) in vascular stenoses.
Methodology: Relative pressures will be estimated from blood velocity vector fields. These velocity fields will be obtained non-invasively using ultrafast Doppler ultrasound through plane wave emissions. The firing sequences will be adapted (“staggered multi-PRF”) to avoid spectral aliasing related to high blood velocities. A mapping of relative pressures will be obtained using the Navier-Stokes equation. The technique will be validated in vitro, in a realistic carotid stenosis setting, with particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements at LabTAU. The relative pressures estimated by vector flow imaging will be compared with those measured by pressure guide wires. Depending on the student’s skills, in silico validations will also be considered in a model coupling fluid dynamics and linear acoustics. The clinical feasibility of this manometric approach will be evaluated in volunteers at the carotid bifurcation.