Developing Ultrasound Localization Microscopy for Neuro and Cardiovascular Imaging

DATE: December 2020
Polytechnique Montréal | Engineering, Physics
Vincent Perrot, PhD. | Postdoctoral Researcher

Ultrafast Ultrasound Localization Microscopy is a new imaging modality that we are developing (Provost Ultrasound Lab, Polytechnique Montreal) to study the vascularization in: i) the brain (detect and evaluate micro infracts to prevent dementia or detect tumors);ii) the heart (detect and evaluate vessel damages linked infracts);iii) and the pulmonary system (detect and evaluate edema due to pulmonary diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 more known as COVID-19 virus).

This new imaging modality is based on the injection of microbubbles (acting as contrast agents). Those microbubbles are tracked with ultrasound imaging in both time and space for the extraction of the 3D vascularization of organs at the micrometer range. This approach is inoffensive (ultrasound imaging is harmful as well as microbubbles), low cost, non-time consuming, and requires only a few minutes of acquisitions.

However, the volume of microbubbles used must be very precise and must be injected slowly to prevent the destruction of the microbubbles in the syringe/tubing system. Only the Hamilton Products allow us to achieve a precision better than the microliter and to slowly inject the microbubbles in both our in vitro experimentations and animal models.

Our research laboratory (Provost Ultrasound Lab, Polytechnique Montreal) is headed by Professor Jean Provost. He is one of the pioneers in Ultrasound Localization Microscopy, a breakthrough imaging modality in our field. We are working closely with the University and several Institutes/Hospitals to validate and develop our approach and algorithms, but also to foresee the potential applications in the long term in both clinics and research. Moreover, for our research, we have an innovative ultrafast 3D ultrasound imaging system: there are only four comparable devices in the world, only one in the United States, and none in Canada.