Developing 3D ultrasound (tUS) for Cardio-Vascular Screening
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing tomographic 3D ultrasound (tUS) for Cardio-Vascular Screening
IRAS ID
268640
Contact name
Steven Rogers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Cardio-Vascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Europe and costs the UK economy £29 billion/year. Surgically treating atherosclerosis at the symptomatic stage is costly. As the majority of CVD is preventable it is logical to consider community-based population screening. The use of imaging in CVD screening is vital, and has been shown to improve patient compliance of medical management and reduce CVD events. Duplex ultrasound however, requires significant costly training and we amidst a national shortage of qualified Vascular Scientists to perform the scans. Target screening of high-risk populations and imaging technology developments may be the answer. Tomographic 3D ultrasound (tUS) captures a 3D reconstruction of the pathology via a simple scanning method that can be taught in 20 minutes. However, currently the process of image analysis still requires an experienced Vascular Scientist. If this process can be automated and validated using artificial intelligence, it is possible that tUS could be used for screening cost-effectively. tUS requires less skill, is potentially cheaper and could be employed in a community setting. This fellowship will develop a personalised and automated CVD screening tool using tomographic 3D ultrasound.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0307
Date of REC Opinion
8 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion