Atherosclerosis is one of the major causes of death in the world. It is an inflammatory disease in the arteries which causes a gradual increase in arterial wall thickness and stiffness. Eventually a plaque could be formed, protruding into the artery and partially occluding the blood flow. Rupture of such a plaque could cause cardiac infarction or stroke. PhD-student Tobias Erlöv is the main developer of a new ultrasound based method which has the potential to determine plaque vulnerability, in other words if there is an increased risk for rupture. The method utilizes shifts in the ultrasound center frequency.

“We have shown that there is a strong correlation between the shift in center frequency and the size of the reflecting particles”, he says.

The method could become a useful tool to identify patients at risk for development of acute cardiovascular events as well as to monitor response to interventions. The project is a collaboration between the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö and also between other clinics in Great Britain and Italy.

Tobias Erlöv will defend his dissertation “On the use of ultrasound phase data for arterial characterization” on September 25^th at 10.15 in E1406.