Super-Resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy of Microvascular Structure and Flow for Distinguishing Metastatic Lymph Nodes – An Initial Human Study
Journal article
Zhu, J., Zhang, C., Christensen-Jeffries, K., Zhang, G., Harput, S., Dunsby, C., Huang, P. and Tang, M. (2022). Super-Resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy of Microvascular Structure and Flow for Distinguishing Metastatic Lymph Nodes – An Initial Human Study. Ultraschall in der Medizin - European Journal of Ultrasound. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1917-0016
Authors | Zhu, J., Zhang, C., Christensen-Jeffries, K., Zhang, G., Harput, S., Dunsby, C., Huang, P. and Tang, M. |
---|---|
Abstract | Abstract Purpose Detecting and distinguishing metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) from those with benign lymphadenopathy are crucial for cancer diagnosis and prognosis but remain a clinical challenge. A recent advance in super-resolution ultrasound (SRUS) through localizing individual microbubbles has broken the diffraction limit and tracking enabled in vivo noninvasive imaging of vascular morphology and flow dynamics at a microscopic level. In this study we hypothesize that SRUS enables quantitative markers to distinguish metastatic LNs from benign ones in patients with lymphadenopathy. Materials and Methods Clinical contrast-enhanced ultrasound image sequences of LNs from 6 patients with lymph node metastasis and 4 with benign lymphadenopathy were acquired and motion-corrected. These were then used to generate super-resolution microvascular images and super-resolved velocity maps. From these SRUS images, morphological and functional measures were obtained including micro-vessel density, fractal dimension, mean flow speed, and Local Flow Direction Irregularity (LFDI) measuring the variance in local flow direction. These measures were compared between pathologically proven reactive and metastasis LNs. Results Our initial results indicate that the difference in the indicator of flow irregularity (LFDI) derived from the SRUS images is statistically significant between the two groups. The LFDI is 60% higher in metastatic LNs compared with reactive nodes. Conclusion This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of super-resolution ultrasound for clinical imaging of lymph nodes and the potential of using the irregularity of local blood flow directions afforded by SRUS for the characterization of LNs. |
Keywords | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging |
Year | 2022 |
Journal | Ultraschall in der Medizin - European Journal of Ultrasound |
Publisher | Georg Thieme Verlag KG |
ISSN | 0172-4614 |
1438-8782 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1917-0016 |
Funder/Client | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council |
National Institute for Health Research | |
Cancer Research UK | |
Publication dates | |
Online | 07 Oct 2022 |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 21 Oct 2022 |
Accepted | 02 Aug 2022 |
Accepted author manuscript | License File Access Level Open |
Permalink -
https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/923w3
Download files
Accepted author manuscript
Human_LN_manuscript_FinalUltraschallMainDoc5.pdf | ||
License: CC BY-NC 4.0 | ||
File access level: Open |
128
total views43
total downloads3
views this month0
downloads this month