Non-invasive measurement of arterial longitudinal movement

In arterial vessel wall characterisation the longitudinal movements of vessels have gained little or no attention. It has been presumed that the arterial vessels move very little in the longitudinal direction. With modem high resolution ultrasound it can, however, be seen that arterial vessels move not only in the circumferential, but also in longitudinal direction. This paper describes a non-invasive, ultrasound based method which estimates the longitudinal and the circumferential movement, respectively. The method is demonstrated in a limited in vivo study of the common carotid artery. Results show that, apart from the well known circumferential movement, there is a distinct longitudinal movement.