ACOUSTIC · Assessment of cardiac function by new ultrasound imaging strategies: towards a reliable clinical routine
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-05-01 → 2019-11-30
- EU contribution
- €127,300
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Assessment of cardiac function by new ultrasound imaging strategies: towards a reliable clinicalroutine
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the world and have a tremendous impact on our society. Since major diseases (hypertension, congestive heart failure, ventricular dyssynchrony, coronary artery disease, and others) are associated with morphologic or functional changes of the left ventricle of the heart, cardiac imaging is critical in (early) diagnosis. Ultrasound imaging is very attractive as it can be applied bedside, has a good temporal resolution, operates in real-time, is relatively cheap and does not make use of ionizing radiation. Specifically, ultrasound imaging is used to assess the morphology of the heart, to check the blood flow in the chambers of the heart, and to detect the motion of the cardiac walls. However, in current two-dimensional (2D) imaging, the temporal resolution is insufficient to detect the heart dynamics. Moreover, although 2D US imaging is still prevalent in clinical practice, three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography is maturing, but the limited temporal resolution is even more severe than in 2D approaches. The scientific objective of this project was the improvement of ultrasound diagnostics and prevention of cardiac diseases by developing an innovative ultrasound system for imaging at very high temporal and spatial resolution for both 2D and 3D echocardiography.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the world and has a tremendous impact on our society. Since major diseases are associated with dysfunction of the left ventricle, the accurate assessment of ventricular function during all phases of the heart cycle is fundamental. This goal may be facilitated by ultrasound imaging, which is in general appreciated for its bedside applicability, good temporal resolution, real-time operation, low cost and absence of ionizing radiation.The overall objective of this project is to improve cardiac ultrasound diagnostics by developing an innovative system for imaging at very high temporal and spatial resolution. This will be achieved through innovative developments in: ultrasound image formation, ultrasound signal processing, and real-time applications. Each of them will be first simulated, then experimented in-vitro, and finally tested in-vivo on human subjects. These developments will add diagnostic and prognostic information to the cardiac ultrasound examination and will enable clinicians to better study cardiac blood-wall interactions. The objectives are in line with those of H2020 EU: improving the “life-long health and well-being of all while maintaining economically sustainable care systems”; and “boosting Europe's industrial leadership through research, technological development, demonstration and innovation”. The project will also pursue the experienced researcher’s professional maturity so as to improve his career. In fact, the training and research program is highly multidisciplinary and integrates leading expertise in the fields of ultrasound and electronic engineering, signal/image processing and clinical cardiology provided by host and secondment institutions. At the same time, the researcher will share his system-oriented knowledge with the host institution to build a background in advanced US technology.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenCoordinatorBelgium
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union