Carotid strain estimation using an ultrasound-based speckle tracking algorithm

Carotid strain imaging using ultrasound-based speckle tracking has showed potential in risk stratification of cardiovascular diseases. However, assessing strain in the artery wall and in atherosclerotic plaques is challenging because of small dimensions and low deformations in relation to the applied ultrasound wavelength. High-resolution ultrasound has potential to improve the speckle tracking performance by increasing spatial resolution. The aim of this study was to compare carotid strain estimation by speckle tracking using standard clinical ultrasound and high-resolution ultrasound in an experimental setup. Ultrasound long-axis images were obtained using a standard clinical ultrasound system (Vivid7) and a high resolution ultrasound system (Vevo2100) in dynamic phantoms mimicking the carotid artery. Speckle tracking was performed to estimate radial and longitudinal strain whereas sonomicrometry was used as reference. The results showed a significant better performance for speckle tracking applied on images from the high-resolution system compared to the standard clinical system.