High-precision evaluation of stress-related properties of blood vessel walls using intravascular optical coherence elastography with forward- view probe

According to the World Health Organization, 3.2% of the world's adult population has cerebral aneurysms. A ruptured aneurysm is often fatal, which makes cerebral aneurysm one of the most dangerous pathological conditions. Methods widely used in real clinical practice for assessing the probability of a cerebral aneurysm rupture based on the analysis of risk factors, its geometry, and individualized mathematical modeling of cerebral hemodynamics lead to contradictory results. The risk of cerebral aneurysm rupture can be estimated based on instrumental research methods to assess the biomechanical properties of the vessel walls. A method for evaluation of the shear modulus for the large blood vessel walls is described. Structural images of the investigated part of the blood vessel wall with aneurysm are sequentially obtained using intravascular optical coherence tomography system for at least several cardiocycles. B-scans correspondent to diastole and shear deformation stages between systole and diastole are taken for the evaluation from a sequence of structural images. The pulse wave is considered to be the only deforming stimulus. The surface area of the deforming force is considered to be equal to the scanning area of the IOCT system. B-scans’ profiles are processed and plotted according to the average truncated level of the interference signal intensity. These profiles are divided into overlapping blocks. Shear deformation is estimated for overlapping blocks by the abscissa projection of the average displacement vector. The dimensions of the deformed region are to be equal to corresponding coherence probing depth. Shear modulus in the point of interest of the blood vessel wall is calculated using the classical formula and verified using known values of the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio. The proposed method can be used in real clinical practice, in particular, in neurosurgical tasks of choosing optimal approaches to the treatment of cerebral aneurysms and technical means for their implementation.

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