3D ultrasound fractional moving blood volume: validation of renal perfusion quantification

Journal article

Background: Three-dimensional fractional moving blood volume (3D-FMBV) derived from 3D power Doppler (PD) ultrasound has been proposed for non-invasive approximation of perfusion. However, 3D-FMBV has never been applied in animals against a ground-truth.

Purpose: To determine the correlation between 3D-FMBV and the ‘gold-standard’ of fluorescent microspheres to measure renal perfusion in a porcine model.

Materials and Methods: From February 2017 to September 2017, adult pigs received an administration of fluorescent microspheres (FMS) before and after measurement of renal 3D-FMBV at baseline (100%) and approximately 75%, 50% and 25% flow levels using 2 different ultrasound machines (General Electric (GE), Philips). 3D PD ultrasound volumes were converted, segmented and correlations by simple linear regression (r2) were made between FMS and 3D-FMBV. Similarity and reproducibility of manual segmentation was determined by Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 3D-FMBV reproducibility (ICC).

Results: 13 pigs were studied with 33 flow measurements. Kidney volume (DSC = 0.89 ± 0.01) and renal segmentation (coefficient of variation = 12.6%; ICC = 0.86) were consistent. 3D-FMBV calculations had high reproducibility (ICC = 0.97 (95% CI = 0.96 - 0.98)). 3D-FMBV per-pig correlation showed excellent correlation for both GE and Philips ultrasound (GE mean r2 = 0.96, range = 0.92-1.0; Philips mean r2 = 0.93, range = 0.784 – 1.0). The correlation between 3D-FMBV and perfusion measured by microspheres was high (GE r2 = 0.80, p < 0.001; Philips r2 = 0.70, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The strong correlation between 3D-FMBV and fluorescent microspheres indicates 3D-FMBV correlates to perfusion well and shows good reproducibility.

Authors: Welsh, A; Fowlkes, B; Pinter, S; Ives, K; Owens, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Radiological Society of North America
• Journal: Radiology
• Volume: 293
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 460-468
• Publication date: 2019-10-01
• Acceptance date: 2019-08-22
• DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2019190248
• EISSN: 1527-1315
• ISSN: 0033-8419
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR