Regional pulse wave velocity (PWV) is the preferred index for quantitative evaluation of arterial stiffness locally, and has shown to be high clinical importance for effective prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular events. However, there have been far less systematic studies on the accurate performance of the regional PWV measurement along a segment of carotid artery and relevant influence factors. In this paper, an ultrasound simulation model for pulse wave propagation is proposed to investigate the accurate performance of PWV measurement and the influence factors such as beam density and frame rate of ultrasound scanning systemically. 30 sets of B-scan ultrasonic sequence images of carotid artery at different frame rates are simulated for obtaining the corresponding RF ultrasound signals, and then the delay time of pulse wave transit at different locations along the artery segment is calculated by two cross-correlation-based data processes. Finally, the average PWV is calculated from a linear fitting algorithm applied to time-distance relationship of pulse wave. The results show that the estimated PWV of carotid artery based on ultrasound RF signals suffers from errors ranged from 7 % to 11 %. The frame rates of ultrasound imaging decreased from 1127 Hz to 376 Hz do not significantly affect the accuracy of PWV measurements, but decreased to 226 Hz would result in much larger measurement errors. Moreover, the accuracy is higher by the linear fitting algorithm based on the pulse wave transiting time from beam positions apart far away.
[1]Yunnan Univ, Informat Sch, Dept Elect Engn, Kunming, Yunnan, Peoples R China.
[2]Kunming Med Univ, Affiliated Hosp 3, Dept Ultrason Examinat, Kunming, Yunnan, Peoples R China.
(8.0+极速模式)