Using sound to hear, image, and treat cardiovascular function
Spyretta Golemati
Abstract: Cardiovascular structures, including the heart and vessels, are sources of sound. Blood flow in arteries, as well as around heart valves, has unique acoustic features, which are altered in the presence of disease. Such features can be assessed with acoustic sensors (microphones and accelerometers), which, going beyond the stethoscope, the conventional method for assessing heart sounds, allow mapping of the acoustic phenomena of extended tissue areas. In addition to this passive approach of hearing cardiovascular sounds, ultrasound, i.e. sound with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing, can be used to image cardiovascular tissues. Ultrasound images represent the result of the interaction (i.e. the echoes) of ultrasound beams directed to tissues, and are widely used in clinical diagnosis and image-guided therapy. Coupled with advanced image analysis methods, conventional ultrasound imaging can yield novel markers of cardiovascular function, including morphological, textural, and mechanical indices that describe complex physiological phenomena. The combination of such markers with machine learning can predict and justify adverse cardiovascular events, towards an in-depth understanding of vascular physiology and pathophysiology and a personalised patient stratification.
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