Young Investigators Award at EUROSON 2008

Table of Contents

Richard GP Lopata

This year entries were: Roland Syha from Germany, Fulvia Terracciano from Italy, Dan Ionut Gheonea from Romania, Richard G.P. Lopata from The Netherlands and Andrew Mcqueen from the United Kingdom.

First prize was awarded to Richard G P Lopata for the abstract titled "4D Cardiac Strain Imaging for diagnosis of chronic heart failure".

CV Richard Lopata was born in 1980 in Oosterhout, the Netherlands. He received his M.Sc. degree in BioMedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in 2004. His graduation project 'Identifiability of Pharmcokinetic Parameters in Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging for Measurement of Tumor Perfusion' resulted in two peer-reviewed papers. He started his PhD-project in Nijmegen in November 2004. The project is entitled '3D Ultrasound Imaging Techniques for the Detection of Chronic Heart Failure in Children" and is still in progress. Richard's primary research interests are Strain Imaging, 3D ultrasound, Echocardiography, Signal processing and BioModeling.

Abstract:

Title: 4D Cardiac Strain Imaging for diagnosis of chronic heart failure.

Cardiac strain imaging has been assessed as a non-invasive technique for mapping the mechanical properties of myocardial tissue and monitoring cardiac diseases, such as fibrosis and infarction. The introduction of real-time 3D ultrasound imaging has boosted research in 3D strain imaging. The complex heart movements and deformations require 3D+t data for accurate assessment of strain in all directions. Sub-optimal temporal resolution of 3D datasets is still a problem. In this study, BiPlane and full 3D volume imaging are used for measuring cardiac strain in 3 orthogonal directions and their application to detect chronic heart failure. Two- and three-dimensional strain imaging techniques, suitable for phased array data, were developed using the raw frequency data of the ultrasound systems. The strain estimation and tracking techniques were validated using simulated linear and phased array ultrasound data and gelatin phantoms of tumor and vessel phantoms. The rf-based techniques outperformed speckle tracking techniques at finer scale. In a pilot animal study, four beagles with an induced valvular aortic stenosis were monitored. The valvular aortic stenosis results in a chronic pressure overload (30 - 200 mmHg respectively) of the left ventricle. This leads to hypertrophy and finally fibrosis. Raw (RF) ultrasound data were acquired with a Philips SONOS 7500 live 3D ultrasound system, equipped with a X4 matrix array transducer and an RF-interface. Using ECG-triggered BiPlane imaging (frame rate = 100Hz), frame-to-frame translations and deformations of the heart (infero-lateral wall of the left ventricle) in three orthogonal directions were obtained over the heart-cycle. Radial strains, circumferential and longitudinal strains were measured in the beagles. In all dogs, both radial strain images and mean strain curves were identical and the variance between the radial strains of these two independent planes was relatively small (35 % ± 5.7 %) . The lateral and elevational maximum strain was considerable lower (approximately 20% and 30% respectively) and in opposite direction. The strain curves of the beagle with a pressure gradient of 200 mmHg showed decreased maximum strain values, which indicates stiffening of the ventricle as corroborated with histology. In conclusion, measuring deformation in three directions in the heart is feasible using this rf-based approach.