In vivo microcirculation mapping of human skin keloid by 40-MHz ultrafast ultrasound imaging

Keloid is a kind of benign dermal lesion that caused by the collagen deposition and growth beyond the boundaries of the original wound margin. Many studies have reported that the density of blood vessel within keloid is higher than normal skin. Therefore, the density of blood vessel is the potential determinant for understanding the pathogenesis of keloids. However, to date, the techniques for extracting the microcirculation of keloids are still lacking. Thus, the purpose of this study is to visualize the microcirculation of keloid by using 40-MHz ultrafast ultrasound imaging. In the present study, the data from a volunteer who suffered with a skin keloid on the abdomen was collected. The size of keloid is 6 mm× 2.5 mm. A singular value decomposition (SVD)-based algorithm was used in this study to extract the microcirculation mapping within keloid. In order to avoid the computation burden of SVD-based algorithm, a sliding window scheme was also proposed. Finally, the microcirculation within keloids was visualized. All the presented data implies the potential of using 40-MHz ultrafast ultrasound imaging for extracting the microvasculature of keloid.