Methods and systems for investigating blood vessel characteristics

A non-transitory computer medium storing computer program code that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

• receive 2D ultrasound data of a blood vessel acquired from a first measurement location, wherein the 2D ultrasound data provides information relating to a movement of the blood vessel;
• receive 3D ultrasound data of the blood vessel acquired from the first measurement location, wherein the 3D ultrasound data provides information relating to a 3D geometry of the blood vessel, wherein the 2D ultrasound data and 3D ultrasound data are obtained from two separate ultrasound data acquisitions performed at the first measurement location;
• determining a motion of the blood vessel based on the movement of the blood vessel from the 2D ultrasound data;
• obtain a non-invasive pressure measurement;
• provide the determined motion of the blood vessel, the 3D geometry of the blood vessel and the non-invasive pressure measurement to a biomechanical model;
• and
• generate a measure of rigidity of the blood vessel based on the biomechanical model.

A system for generating a non-invasive measure of blood vessel rigidity of a subject, the system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• non-transitory memory storing code that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:
• receive 2D ultrasound data of a blood vessel acquired from a first measurement location, wherein the 2D ultrasound data provides information relating to a movement of the blood vessel;
• receive 3D ultrasound data of the blood vessel acquired from the first measurement location, wherein the 3D ultrasound data provides information relating to a 3D geometry of the blood vessel, wherein the 2D ultrasound data and 3D ultrasound data are obtained from two separate ultrasound data acquisitions performed at the first measurement location;
• determine a motion of the blood vessel based on the movement of the blood vessel from the 2D ultrasound data;
• obtain a non-invasive pressure measurement;
• provide the determined motion of the blood vessel, the 3D geometry of the blood vessel and the non-invasive pressure measurement to a biomechanical model;
• and
• generate a measure of rigidity of the blood vessel based on the biomechanical model.