"Molecular ultrasound imaging – a powerful tool for the diagnosis of endothelial dysfunction and arterial inflammation”

Keywords: atherosclerosis, blood perfusion, vascular lesion, surgery

Atheroslerosis is a disease caused by variations in blood perfusion and the accumulation of lipids within vascular wall, causing vessel obstruction. In advanced stages of atherosclerosis, surgical treatment is applied. This research is combining multiphoton-microscopy and ultrasound imaging to detect: 1) the vascular lesions caused by variations in blood perfusion, and 2) vascular recovery after the surgical interventions applied in advanced atherosclerosis. Therefore, the ultrasound imaging was successfully applied in differentiating injured from healthy vessels. Our findings may be beneficial for the development of new diagnostic and treatment protocols for patients with different stages of atherosclerosis.