Human lymph node microvascular imaging using a fast contrast-free super-resolution ultrasound technique

Lymph nodes play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, and assessing lymph node involvement is essential for patient prognosis and treatment strategies. Super-resolution ultrasound imaging (SRUS), including ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM), has shown promise in visualizing the lymph node micr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 23061 - 13
Main Authors: Amin Naji, Mostafa, Panduro, Nathalie Sarup, Tabatabaei Majd, Seyed Mohammad Mahdi, Hansen, Lauge Naur, Taghavi, Iman, McDermott, Amy, Gundlach, Carsten, Tomov, Borislav Gueorguiev, Nielsen, Michael Bachmann, Sørensen, Charlotte Mehlin, Jensen, Jørgen Arendt
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.07.2025
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
639/166/985
692/700/1421/1860
Blood flow velocity
Erythrocytes
Human lymph node
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Lymph Nodes - blood supply
Lymph Nodes - diagnostic imaging
Microvascular imaging
Microvessels - diagnostic imaging
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Super-resolution ultrasound imaging
Ultrasonography - methods
Microvascular imaging
Blood flow velocity
Super-resolution ultrasound imaging
Human lymph node
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Lymph nodes play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, and assessing lymph node involvement is essential for patient prognosis and treatment strategies. Super-resolution ultrasound imaging (SRUS), including ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM), has shown promise in visualizing the lymph node microvasculature, however, ULM requires microbubbles injection, monitoring, and long acquisition times. This study investigates the feasibility of using a fast contrast-free SRUS approach based on erythrocytes (SURE) to visualize and quantify the microvasculature in human lymph nodes. The SURE pipeline detects and tracks erythrocyte scatterer peaks to generate high-resolution microvascular images with a resolution of less than half the wavelength in 2 seconds of data acquisition. SURE visualized the microvasculature, flow direction, and velocity in four normal human lymph nodes, detecting vessels as small as 40 m in diameter and blood flow velocities ranging from 2 to 15 mm/s. The time evolution of SURE images from 0.1 to 10 seconds was demonstrated, and the SURE consistency was validated by processing SURE images of the same lymph node acquired at different time points. The SURE approach offers a fast contrast-free method for assessing human lymph node microvascular characteristics, providing a promising tool for lymph node evaluation in clinical settings.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-08483-4