Estimation of Intima-Media Thickness of Carotid Artery by Ultrasound Radiofrequency Signal Decomposition Using Matching Pursuit

Intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery is a risk indicator for cardiovascular disease. Estimation of the IMT using ultrasound can be hindered due to spatial resolution constraints and scattering echoes that result in overlap of the echoes arising from the tissue interfaces of the artery wall used for IMT estimation. To address this limitation, a matching pursuit signal decomposition of the ultrasound radiofrequency signal is proposed for isolating the desired tissue interface echoes used for IMT estimation. The proposed method had reduced the variability of the estimated IMT compared to those obtained directly from the envelope ultrasound signals.