White paper: towards fully-automated carotid plaque risk prediction using 3-d freehand ultrasound

Atherosclerotic plaque is a leading cause of death worldwide. Ultrasound (US) imaging is a widely-used and popular modality for carotid plaque screening due to its simplicity and low cost. However, automated diagnosis using 2-D US remains challenging due to the large variability in scanning location and operator skill. A newly developed technique of Freehand 3-D US (FUS) promises to alleviate this issue by allowing to review the exam independently of the acquisition, bringing the workflow closer to CT Angiography (CTA) and MR. This not only reduces the operator dependency but it is also better suited for automated plaque measurement and characterisation. Furthermore, the examination cost is much reduced compared to other imaging techniques. In this white paper, we present and evaluate an automatic diagnostic system for carotid plaque risk prediction using FUS.