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. 2023 May 20;33(3):309–323. doi: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.04.001

Table 1.

Summary of existing in vivo preclinical and clinical studies using super-resolution ultrasound imaging

Organ Condition Imaging setting and model Publication Likelihood for transition to clinical research and practice
Brain Stroke Rat Chavignon et al., 2022 [45] Medium (non-neonates):
  • Transcranial imaging through intact skull is challenging in adults.

  • Possible through temporal window but limited FOV.

  • Intraoperative application is possible.

High (neonates):
  • Ultrasound provides a viable noninvasive imaging solution on newborns before fontanelle closure.


Brain Stroke Human Demené et al., 2021 [44]
Brain Alzheimer’s disease Mouse Lowerison et al., 2022 [47]
Brain Aging Mouse Lowerison et al., 2022 [48]
Brain Hydrocephalus Pig Zhang et al., 2022 [79]
Brain Normal animal for functional neural activity imaging; normal animal for dynamic pulsatility measurement Rat Renaudin et al., 2022 [39]; Bourquin et al., 2022 [67]; McCall et al., [80]

Spinal cord Normal Rat Claron et al., 2021 [81]; van Sloun et al., 2021 [34] Low-medium:
  • Noninvasive imaging challenged by limited acoustic window around vertebrate.

  • Intraoperative application is possible.


Breast Cancer Human Opacic et al., 2018 [21]; Huang et al., 2021 [62] High:
  • Ultrasound is routinely used in clinic for managing breast cancer.

  • Shallow and stationary tissue provides an ideal imaging condition.


Lymph Node Normal Rabbit Zhu et al., 2019 [82] High:
  • Ultrasound is routinely used in clinic for managing suspicious lymph nodes.

  • Shallow and stationary tissue provides an ideal imaging condition.


Lymph Node Metastatic cancer Human Zhu et al., 2022 [61]

Tumor xenografts Colorectal cancer; renal cell carcinoma; fibrosarcoma; lung carcinoma; epidermoid carcinoma; myxoid liposarcomas Chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane; rat; mouse Lowerison et al., 2022 [50]; Lowerison et al., 2020 [49]; Lin et al., 2017 [18]; Opacic et al., 2018 [21] N/A

Pancreas Cancer Human Huang et al., 2021 [62] Medium:
  • Poor visibility of pancreas under ultrasound is the main challenge.


Liver Cancer Rabbit Zhang et al., 2021 [64] Medium – High:
  • Ultrasound is routinely used in clinic for liver imaging.

  • Respiratory and cardiac motion can be significant.

  • Deep liver region may be challenging to image because of ultrasound attenuation.


Liver Normal and acute-on-chronic liver failure Human Huang et al., 2021 [62]

Kidney Ischemia Rat Andersen et al., 2020 [23] Medium – High:
  • Ultrasound is routinely used in clinic for kidney imaging.

  • Respiratory motion can be significant.

  • Depth of penetration can be an issue for kidney ultrasound.


Kidney Acute injury Mouse Chen et al., 2020 [83]
Kidney Normal Human Huang et al., 2021 [62]

Kidney Transplant allograft Human Bodard et al., 2023 [73] High:
  • Shallow and accessible tissue with little motion

  • Contrast microbubbles are not associated with nephrotoxicity.


Prostate Unknown Human Solomon et al., 2019 [60] High:
  • Transrectal ultrasound is commonly used in clinic for prostate imaging.

  • Shallow and stationary prostate tissue from transrectal imaging provides ideal imaging condition.


Heart Normal Isolated rat heart; in vivo rat heart (transthoracic imaging) Demeulenaere et al., 2022 [65]; Cormier et al., 2021 [66] Low-Medium:
  • Cardiac motion is significant.

  • Limited data acquisition window (e.g., during diastole)

  • Depth of penetration and suboptimal imaging quality can be issues for echocardiography


Lower limb muscle Normal Human Harput et al., 2018 [84] High:
  • MSK ultrasound is routinely used in clinic.

  • Low level of tissue motion in lower limbs


Vasa vasorum Atherosclerotic plaques; Takayasu arteritis Rabbit and human Chen et al., 2020 [85]; Goudot et al., 2023 [86] Medium - High:
  • Ultrasound is routinely used in clinic for imaging atherosclerotic plaques.

  • Tissue motion can be significant.


Eye Elevated intraocular pressure Rabbit Qian et al., 2022 [87] Medium:
  • Low level of tissue motion.

  • Microbubbles are not commonly used in eye ultrasound.