Ultrasound estimation of erythrocyte aggregate structure in controlled blood flows

The ultrasound technique that we propose is based on the analysis of the frequency (spectral) content of signals backscattered by blood, which are related to the blood microstructure. This technique consists in fitting the measured frequency dependent backscatter coefficient to an estimated backscatter coefficient using an appropriate theoretical scattering model. Recently, the theoretical model named the Effective Medium Theory combined with the Structure Factor Model (EMTSFM) developed by our group was found to be more suitable than other classical scattering models (such as Structure Factor Size Estimator, Spherical Gaussian model). The ultrasound technique was tested in vitro on porcine blood sheared in the Couette instrument and a tube flow system.

Simultaneous estimation of attenuation and structure parameters of aggregated red blood cells

The difficulty in applying this technique in vivo is due to the frequency-dependent attenuation caused by intervening tissue layers that distorts the spectral content of backscattering properties from blood microstructures. To correctly evaluate microstructural parameters, it is thus of major interest to take into account tissue attenuation effects. An optimization method, called the Structure Factor Size and Attenuation Estimator (SFSAE) was proposed to simultaneously estimate tissue attenuation and erythrocyte aggregate structure.

People at LMA on the project : Emilie Franceschini (CR CNRS), Lenin Chinchilla (PhD student), Régine Guillermin (IR CNRS), Philippe Lasaygues (IR CNRS), Eric Debieu (AI CNRS)

Contact : Emilie Franceschini

Collaborations

• Guy Cloutier, University of Montreal, LBUM, Montréal, Canada
• François Destrempes, University of Montreal, LBUM, Montréal, Canada
• Ratan K. Saha, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Bidhannagar, India
• Valérie Deplano, IRPHE, Marseille, France
• Yannick Knapp, IRPHE, Marseille, France

Publications

• E. Franceschini, F. T. H. Yu & G. Cloutier Simultaneous estimation of attenuation and structure parameters of aggregated red blood cells from backscatter measurements (2008) J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 123 EL85-91 (PDF)
• F. T. H. Yu, E. Franceschini, B. Chayer, J. K. Armstrong, H. J. Meiselman, & G. Cloutier Ultrasonic parametric imaging of erythrocyte agregation using the structure factor size estimator (2009) Biorheology 123 343-363 (PDF)
• E. Franceschini, F. T. H. Yu, F. Destrempes & G. Cloutier Ultrasound characterization of red blood cell aggregation with intervening attenuating tissue-mimicking phantoms (2010) J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 127(2) 1104-1115 (PDF)
• R. K. Saha, E. Franceschini & G. Cloutier Assessment of accuracy of the structure-factor-size-estimator method in determining red blood cell aggregate size from ultrasound spectral backscatter coefficient (2011) J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 129(4) 2269-2277 (PDF)
• E. Franceschini, B. Metzger & G. Cloutier, Forward problem study of an effective medium model for ultrasound blood characterization (2011) IEEE Trans. on Ultrason., Ferroelect., Freq. Contr. 58(12) 2668-2679 (PDF)
• E. Franceschini, R. K. Saha and G. Cloutier Comparison of three scattering models for ultrasound blood characterization (2013) IEEE Trans. on Ultrason., Ferroelect., Freq. Contr. 60(11) 2321-2334 (PDF)
• F. Destrempes, E. Franceschini, F. T. H. Yu and G. Cloutier, Unifying concepts of statistical and spectral quantitative ultrasound techniques (2016) IEEE Trans. on Medical Imaging 35(2) 488-500
• R. de Monchy, F. Destrempes, R. K. Saha, G. Cloutier, E. Franceschini Coherent and incoherent ultrasound backscatter from cell aggregates (2016) J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 140(3) 2173-2184 (PDF)

Patents

• G. Cloutier, F. T. H. Yu, E. Franceschini and D. Savery Method and system of ultrasound scatterer characterization US patent No. US 2011/0092817 published Apr. 21, 2011
• E. Franceschini and G. Cloutier, System and method of ultrasound scatterer characterization US patent No. US2014/0016438 A1 published Jan. 16, 2014
  

Book chapter

• E. Franceschini and G. Cloutier Modeling of ultrasound backscattering by aggregating red blood cells Chapter 6, pp. 117-145, in Quantitative Ultrasound in Soft Tissues edited by J. Mamou and M. Oelze (Springer, 2013)