Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, September 11, 2017
On the Use of Rhesus Macaque Model for Ultrasonic Backscatter Parameters in the Human Cervix
Quinton Guerrero, MS (student of Dr. Timothy Hall)
Research Assistant, Department of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI - USA
Cervical change occurs during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy process, and is a prerequisite for vaginal preterm birth. The ability to quantitatively detect cervical change using ultrasound could lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms for preterm birth. Use of an appropriate animal model for pregnancy may facilitate rapid development and testing of future interventions for preterm birth. We developed a method to measure the angle-dependence of the acoustic properties of the cervix, vetted the method in know anisotropic tissues and materials, and showed a significant and consistent decline in the angle dependence of the cervix throughout pregnancy; cross-sectionally in humans and longitudinally in non-human primates.