Vascular compliance using elasticity imaging

The elastic compliance of blood vessels is often measured on B-scans by segmenting images to track changes in vessel lumen diameter throughout the cardiac cycle. Since strain imaging measures the deformation of tissues surrounding arteries in response to pressure variations, elasticity imaging has the potential to provide robust estimates of vascular compliance. The goal of this study is to use the displacement and strain patterns surrounding a pulsing blood vessel to determine measures of vessel elasticity. The basic technique is validated using a vascular phantom and then applied in vivo to a brachial artery from a healthy volunteer.