title: Atherosclerotic plaque characterization by spatial and temporal speckle pattern analysis.
abstract: Improved methods are needed to identify the vulnerable coronary plaques responsible for acute myocardial infraction or sudden cardiac death. We describe a method for characterizing the structure and biomechanical properties of atherosclerotic plaques based on speckle pattern fluctuations. Near-field speckle images were acquired from five human aortic specimens ex vivo. The speckle decorrelation time constant varied significantly for vulnerable aortic plaques (tau=40 ms) versus stable plaques (tau=400 ms) and normal aorta (tau=500 ms) . These initial results indicate that different atherosclerotic plaque types may be distinguished by analysis of temporal and spatial speckle pattern fluctuations.
authors.forename: Guillermo J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Tearney
authors.forename: Brett E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Bouma