Measurement of Arterial Young's Elastic Modulus using ARTSENS Pen

摘要

Arterial Young's modulus (Y) is an important elastic property of the artery that quantifies the material stiffness. Several studies have demonstrated that the quantitative values of Y and its standard deviation could be potentially used as an independent predictor of coronary heart diseases. For reliable measurements of Y, accurate measurements of arterial diameter and wall thickness are required. Conventionally these arterial dimensions are measured by imaging systems that are not a viable option for large-scale screening due to their form factor and a high degree of complexity. In this work, we present a portable image-free ultrasound modality - ARTSENS Pen for measurement of Y. ARTSENS is an extensively validated technology that is capable of providing clinical standard measurements of arterial dimensions and stiffness. In this present work, we have demonstrated the capability of the ARTSENS to make accurate and repeatable measurements of Y. The performance of the device is validated through an in-vivo study on 15 subjects. The ARTSENS measurements of Y were repeatable over continuous cardiac cycles for all the recruited subjects (beat-to-beat variation < 6 %). The mean of Y measured for all the subjects was $262.8pm 99$ kPa. The accuracy of the system was evaluated by a comparative analysis against a reference B-mode imaging modality. Regression analysis of the data showed that the Y measurements that were taken by ARTSENS significantly correlated (r = 0.90, p < 0.001) to the reference system measurements. Bland Altman analysis indicated a strong degree of agreement between measurements taken by the two devices, with an insignificant difference (p = 0.32).