Noninvasive Measurement of Transient Change in Viscoelasticity Due to Flow-Mediated Dilation Using Automated Detection of Arterial Wall Boundaries

Abstract

We measured the stress–strain relationship of the radial arterial wall during a heartbeat noninvasively. In our previous study, the viscoelasticity of the intima–media region was estimated from the stress–strain relationship, and the transient change in viscoelasticity due to flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was estimated. In this estimation, it is necessary to detect the lumen–intima boundary (LIB) and the media–adventitia boundary (MAB). To decrease the operator dependence, in the present study, a method is proposed for automatic and objective boundary detection based on template matching between the measured and adaptive model ultrasonic signals. Using this method, arterial wall boundaries were appropriately detected in in vivo experiments. Furthermore, the transient change in viscoelasticity estimated from the stress–strain relationship was similar to that obtained manually. These results show the feasibility of the proposed method for automatic boundary detection enabling an objective and appropriate analysis of the transient change in viscoelasticity due to FMD.