Jiaming Sun ‘27, Jacob Elliot Ph.D., Julianna Simon Ph.D.

WUJUR (2025) | Cite this work

Abstract

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) affects approximately 1 to 2 per 1,000 individuals each year and remains a leading cause of pulmonary embolism-related deaths. Conventional ultrasound imaging is widely used for DVT detection but often fails to precisely delineate thrombus boundaries, limiting diagnostic confidence. High-frame-rate (HFR) Doppler ultrasound, built on plane-wave transmissions rather than sequential focused beams, enables ultrafast acquisition and improved sensitivity to subtle and transient blood flow signals, providing sharper definition of clot–lumen interfaces than standard color Doppler.

In this study, a DVT flow phantom was constructed from a silicone vessel embedded in a 2% agar block with an attached 3D-printed clot. A dual-channel peristaltic pump generated continuous physiologic circulation, while sodium dodecyl sulfate-stabilized perfluoropentane (SDS-PFP) nanoemulsions were introduced as ultrasound contrast agents. These droplets vaporize under acoustic excitation to form microbubbles that act as strong backscatterers, enhancing Doppler signal intensity and flow visualization. Imaging was conducted on a Verasonics NXT® research platform using an L7-4 linear probe (center frequency approximately 5 MHz). Plane-wave flash Doppler sequences with in phase/quadrature (IQ) acquisition were implemented through MATLAB-controlled scripts on the system’s PC interface, capturing 1,134 frames over 120 seconds at an effective frame rate of approximately 9.5 fps. The acquired IQ data were reconstructed into Doppler power maps to visualize flow disruption and clot boundaries.

Compared with conventional B-mode and color Doppler imaging, HFR Doppler produced crisper transitions between perfused and occluded regions and revealed localized flow disturbances around the thrombus. This work establishes a proof of concept that plane-wave HFR Doppler ultrasound combined with SDS-PFP contrast agents enhances delineation of thrombus boundaries in a DVT phantom model. Future studies will quantify contrast-to-noise and boundary-sharpness metrics and explore in vivo validation toward clinical translation.

Main

This article is viewable by PDF download.

References

[1] Lutsey, P. L., & Zakai, N. A. (2022). Epidemiology and prevention of venous thromboembolism. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 20(4), 248–262. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-022-00787-6
[2] Farmakis, I. T., Valerio, L., Bikdeli, B., Connors, J. M., Giannakoulas, G., Goldhaber, S. Z., Hobbom, L., Hunt, B. J., Keller, K., Spyropoulos, A. C., & Barco, S. (2022). Annual mortality related to pulmonary embolism in the U.S. before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 80(16), 1579–1581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.08.721
[3] Dong, Z., Li, S., Duan, X., Lowerison, M. R., Huang, C., You, Q., Chen, S., Zou, J., & Song, P. (2023). High volume rate 3-D ultrasound imaging using fast-tilting and redirecting reflectors. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2023.3282949
[4] Renaudin, N., Demené, C., Dizeux, A., Ialy-Radio, N., Pezet, S., & Tanter, M. (2022). Functional ultrasound localization microscopy reveals brain-wide neurovascular activity on a microscopic scale. Nature Methods, 19, 1004–1012. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01549-5
[5] Opacic, T., Dencks, S., Theek, B., Piepenbrock, M., Ackermann, D., Rix, A., Lammers, T., Stickeler, E., Delorme, S., Schmitz, G., & Kiessling, F. (2018). Motion model ultrasound localization microscopy for preclinical and clinical multiparametric tumor characterization. Nature Communications, 9, 1527. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03973-8

Supplemental material

There is no supplemental material provided by the author(s) for this work.

About this article

Citation (APA)

Sun, J., Elliot, J., Simon, J. (2025). High-frame-rate Doppler ultrasound with contrast agents enables deep vein thrombosis delineation. WUJUR, 2(1), 12-15.

A DOI link will soon be supplied for this article and added to the above citation.

Author Information

Jiaming, Sun. Washington University in St. Louis.
Corresponding Author. Send correspondence to jiaming.s@wustl.edu.

Elliot, Jacob. Penn State University.

Simon, Julianna. Penn State University.

Additional Information and Declarations

There is no additional information or declarations provided by the author(s).

Peer Review

WUJUR thanks the anonymous Peer Reviewers who contributed to the review of this work.

Rights and Permissions

Individual articles © 2025 by their respective authors. Illustrations and images remain the property of their respective authors or rights holders and are reproduced here with permission or under fair use.

The author(s) may grant certain license permissions to the public.

Copyright © 2025. Washington University Journal of Undergraduate Research. All rights reserved for compilation, design, and editorial content.