Carotid Neo3D

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  3D Contrast Enhanced Microvascular Ultrasound of Carotid Atherosclerosis for the detection of carotid plaque neo-revascularisation.

• IRAS ID

  349094

• Contact name

  Roxy Senior

• Contact email

  roxysenior@cardiac-research.org

• Sponsor organisation

  London North West University Healthcare NHS Trus

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 4 months, 4 days

• Research summary

  Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease caused by the build-up of fatty material, known as plaques, within many blood vessels of the circulatory system. These can develop asymptomatically over time and can lead to serious conditions such as stroke or a heart attack.
  Despite the use of primary prevention therapies, such as statins, some patients with known atherosclerosis and other co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, will still develop these life-threatening conditions. This has led to research into plaque vulnerabilities with one of these being plaque neo-vascularisation; the development of new blood vessels inside the plaque to encourage growth and make them more likely to rupture causing poor outcomes.

  There are several tests that can be used to investigate plaque neo-vascularisation including MRI, CT and contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). CEUS has the added benefit of using non-iodinated contrast and no ionising radiation and is therefore a lower risk to patients. However, it’s limited by its 2D scanning plane and the small size of the vessels at 10-100 micrometres in a 3D structure which is likely to increase false negative results. The optimal test would be a 3D ultrasound method to detect plaque neo-vascularisation accurately and doesn’t contain radiation or iodinated contrast. A test like this could help target these groups of patients with more vulnerable plaques for earlier and more aggressive treatment. Currently this kind of test is not yet available.
  This pilot study uses a different type of ultrasound probe and high frame rate software which we hypothesise can create 3D CEUS images of plaques, along with super-resolution images. This should therefore create a more accurate, effective and less user dependant method of investigating vulnerable plaques.
  

• REC name

  East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1

• REC reference

  25/ES/0035

• Date of REC Opinion

  26 Jun 2025

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion