In vivo quantification of arterial active mechanics using deep learning-assisted pressure–area analysis

Active arterial mechanics, governed by vascular smooth muscle contraction, are critical to physiological regulation, cardiovascular disease progression, and clinical diagnosis. Although various in vivo methods have been developed to assess arterial stiffness, most cannot distinguish the contribution of smooth muscle tone; therefore, quantitative characterization of arterial activity remains challenging. In this study, we developed a pressure-area analysis framework integrating ultrasound imaging, blood pressure measurement, neural network-based segmentation of arterial cross-sectional area, and biomechanical model-driven inversion to infer active mechanical properties. A total of 233 volunteers (aged 18-65 year) were recruited to acquire cross-sectional ultrasound videos of the right common carotid artery for training the neural network. The segmentation results demonstrate good spatial and temporal performance of the neural network. We further recruited 10 additional volunteers (aged 25 ± 3 year) to perform a 1 min step test, followed by pressure-area measurements over a 30 min recovery period. Using the proposed approach, we quantified post-exercise changes in carotid arterial active mechanics relative to baseline (i.e., the resting state). Results showed that active mechanics remained elevated for approximately 15 min compared to baseline (p < 0.05), whereas systolic pressure differed significantly only within the first approximately 5 min post-exercise (p < 0.001). These results indicate a dissociation between blood pressure and smooth muscle recovery, which may offer new insight into vascular smooth muscle regulation during physiological stress.