1 Atherosclerotic Plaque Motion Trajectory Analysis from Ultrasound Videos

Abstract — The paper describes the computation of motion trajectories in ultrasound videos of atherosclerotic plaques. Preliminary results indicate that motion trajectories follow the cardiac cycles, forcing motions from different parts of the plaque and arterial walls to appear in phase. Based on the periodicity of the motion, we found that a Fourier series, using a small number of harmonics, can approximate the periodic motion due to the cardiac motion cycle. Furthermore, plaque motion exhibited larger deviations and more abrupt changes than arterial wall motion. Index Terms — Atherosclerosis, motion estimation, ultrasound