3D vascular ultrasound using a new electronic-sweep matrix transducer demonstrated strong agreement with the established mechanical-sweep transducer for measuring atherosclerotic plaque volume (ICC 0.997).
Observational (n=20)
Single-blind
No
Does a new 3D-matrix electronic-sweep transducer accurately measure atherosclerotic plaque volume compared to histology and mechanical-sweep 3D transducers in carotid and femoral arteries?
A new 3D-matrix electronic-sweep ultrasound transducer provides accurate and faster quantification of carotid and femoral atherosclerotic plaque volumes compared to traditional methods.
Effect estimate: ICC 0.997 (95% CI 0.995-0.998)
p-value: p=<0.001
BACKGROUND: Carotid and femoral plaque burden is a recognized biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk. A new electronic-sweep 3-dimensional (3D)-matrix transducer method can improve the functionality and image quality of vascular ultrasound atherosclerosis imaging. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to validate this method for plaque volume measurement in early and intermediate-advanced plaques in the carotid and femoral territories. METHODS: Plaque volumes were measured ex vivo in pig carotid and femoral artery specimens by 3-dimensional vascular ultrasound (3DVUS) using a 3D-matrix (electronic-sweep) transducer and its associated 3D plaque quantification software, and were compared with gold-standard histology. To test the clinical feasibility and accuracy of the 3D-matrix transducer, an experiment was conducted in intermediate-high risk individuals with carotid and femoral atherosclerosis. The results were compared with those obtained using the previously validated mechanical-sweep 3D transducer and established 2-dimensional (2D)-based plaque quantification software. RESULTS: In the ex vivo study, the authors assessed 19 atherosclerotic plaques (plaque volume, 0.76 µL-56.30 μL), finding strong agreement between measurements with the 3D-matrix transducer and the histological gold-standard (intraclass correlation coefficient ICC: 0.992; 95% CI: 0.978-0.997). In the clinical analysis of 20 patients (mean age 74.6 ± 4.45 years; 40% men), the authors found 64 (36 carotid and 28 femoral) of 80 scanned territories with atherosclerosis (measured atherosclerotic volume, 10 μL-859 μL). There was strong agreement between measurements made from electronic-sweep and mechanical-sweep 3DVUS transducers (ICC: 0.997 95% CI: 0.995-0.998). Agreement was also high between plaque volumes estimated by the 2D and 3D plaque quantification software applications (ICC: 0.999 95% CI: 0.998-0.999). Analysis time was significantly shorter with the 3D plaque quantification software than with the 2D multislice approach with a mean time reduction of 46%. CONCLUSIONS: 3DVUS using new matrix transducer technology, together with improved 3D plaque quantification software, simplifies the accurate volume measurement of early (small) and intermediate-advanced plaques located in carotid and femoral arteries.
López‐Melgar et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in Atherosclerosis (n=20). Electronic-sweep 3D-matrix transducer (XL14-3) vs. Mechanical-sweep 3D transducer (VL13-5) was evaluated on Agreement in plaque volume measurement between electronic-sweep and mechanical-sweep 3DVUS transducers (ICC 0.997, 95% CI 0.995-0.998, p=<0.001). 3D vascular ultrasound using a new electronic-sweep matrix transducer demonstrated strong agreement with the established mechanical-sweep transducer for measuring atherosclerotic plaque volume (ICC 0.997).