Super-Resolution Ultrasound - Olivier Couture (Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM)

Ultrasound is a widely used medical imaging technique sensitive to blood flow. However, it is limited by the classic trade-off between penetration and resolution. Super-resolved ultrasound, particularly Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (ULM), is a technique that can provide very high resolution deep within tissues. It relies on clinical contrast agents - microbubbles - that are isolated and localized on a micrometer scale in ultrasound images. Tracking their trajectory can provide blood velocities in the microcirculation. Recently, such a technique has been demonstrated in both the brain (Errico et al. Nature 2015) and in the kidney, tumors, peripheral vessels, and lymph nodes (as reviewed in Couture et al. IEEE UFFC 2018 or Christensen-Jeffries et al. UMB 2020).

In this presentation, we will describe recent advances in ULM. In particular, we will demonstrate the 3D reconstruction of the rat's microvascular brain circulation. Additionally, we will describe the use of sULM (sensing-ULM) to reveal the fine functional structures of the kidney, glomeruli, in both animals and humans.

All these developments aim to create a new imaging tool for stroke patients and to improve the diagnosis of kidney diseases. In the future, ULM could potentially enable deep and portable micro-angiography, potentially reducing patient treatment times.

Contact: Gwennou Coupier