title: Mechanical analysis of atherosclerotic plaques based on optical coherence tomography.
abstract: Finite element analysis is a powerful tool for investigating the biomechanics of atherosclerosis and has thereby provided an improved understanding of acute myocardial infarction. Structural analysis of arterial walls is traditionally performed using geometry contours derived from histology. In this paper we demonstrate the first use of a new imaging technique, optical coherence tomography (OCT), as a basis for finite element analysis. There are two primary benefits of OCT relative to histology: 1) imaging is performed without excessive tissue handling, providing a more realistic geometry than histology and avoiding structural artifacts common to histologic processing, and 2) OCT imaging can be performed in vivo, making it possible to study disease progression and the effect of therapeutic treatments in animal models and living patients. Patterns of mechanical stress and strain distributions computed from finite element analysis based on OCT were compared with those from modeling based on "gold standard" histology. Our results indicate that vascular structure and composition determined by OCT provides an adequate basis for investigating the biomechanical factors relevant to atherosclerosis and acute myocardial infarction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Alexandra H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Chau
authors.forename: Raymond C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Milen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shishkov
authors.forename: Briain
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: MacNeill
authors.forename: Nicusor
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iftimia
authors.forename: Guillermo J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Tearney
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kamm
authors.forename: Brett E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Bouma
authors.forename: Mohammad R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kaazempur-Mofrad
mesh_terms: D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional