Abstract
This paper presents an ultrasound simulation model for pulsatile blood flow, modulated by the motion of a stenosed vessel wall. It aims at generating more realistic ultrasonic signals to provide an environment for evaluating ultrasound signal processing and imaging and a framework for investigating the behaviors of blood flow field modulated by wall motion. This model takes into account fluid-structure interaction, blood pulsatility, stenosis of the vessel, and arterial wall movement caused by surrounding tissue's motion. The axial and radial velocity distributions of blood and the displacement of vessel wall are calculated by solving coupled Navier-Stokes and wall equations. With these obtained values, we made several different phantoms by treating blood and the vessel wall as a group of point scatterers. Then, ultrasound echoed signals from oscillating wall and blood in the axisymmetric stenotic-carotid arteries were computed by ultrasound simulation software, Field II. The results show better consistency with corresponding theoretical values and clinical data and reflect the influence of wall movement on the flow field. It can serve as an effective tool not only for investigating the behavior of blood flow field modulated by wall motion but also for quantitative or qualitative evaluation of new ultrasound imaging technology and estimation method of blood velocity.
Highlights
Atherosclerosis is one of the most common types of cardiovascular disease and is usually related to the existence of stenosis in an artery
The weak signals backscattered from the flowing blood, especially the signals echoed from the area near the vessel wall, will be contaminated by the strong backscattered clutter signals originating from stationary tissues, slowly moving vessels, and noise
We present the geometric and mathematical model of pulsatile blood flowing through a stenosed vessel, considering fluid-structure interactions (FSI)
Summary
Atherosclerosis is one of the most common types of cardiovascular disease and is usually related to the existence of stenosis in an artery. As a consequence of technological advances in ultrasound imaging, the ultrasonic echography has become one of the most important noninvasive diagnostic methods for detection and monitoring of cardiovascular disease. Compared with other available imaging methods, it is quick, safe, and relatively inexpensive when visualizing arterial wall and flow in vivo [5]. These ultrasound images, such as Bmode, M-mode Doppler, and color flow imaging (CFI) ultrasound images, cannot always accurately describe the real flow behaviors. It is believed that the echoed ultrasonic signals from slowly moving blood flow near the wall may provide useful information to improve the diagnostic efficiency
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