Abstract
Ultrasound imaging in the lungs is challenging because of air-filled alveoli which induce multiple scattering. Pulmonary edema is characterized by increased extravascular lung water, which causes acute dyspnea. There is an urgent need from pulmonologists to non-invasively quantify pulmonary edema, in order to monitor response to treatment. The present methodology takes advantage of multiple scattering and calculates the scattering mean free path (L*) for the quantitative assessment of pulmonary edema. L* is a semi-local property, which could be correlated to the amount of fluid buildup in the lung. Pulmonary edema was induced in 4 Sprague-Dawley rats using ischemia reperfusion injury. Following a sternotomy, L* was calculated from the time evolution of the backscattered incoherent intensity using an L11-4v linear array connected to a Verasonics scanner. Ex-vivo data were also acquired for 2 edematous pig lungs. For measurements, the left lung was edematous whereas the right lung was treated as control. Significant differences (p<0.001) were found between control (L* = 330±89μm) and edema (L* = 876±179 μm) for in-vivo rats. For ex-vivo pig lungs, L* was found to be 190±84 μm for control and 1074±361 μm for edema. This suggests the potential of L* for the assessment of pulmonary edema.
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