Spectroscopic intravascular photoacoustic imaging to differentiate atherosclerotic plaques.
The potential of intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) imaging to detect atherosclerosis was previously demonstrated using a 532 nm nanosecond pulsed laser and an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging catheter. However, to differentiate vulnerable plaques, the composition of plaques needs to be imaged. Therefore, we introduce a multi-wavelength photoacoustic imaging method to distinguish various types of plaques. Multi-spectral IVPA imaging of ex vivo samples of normal and atherosclerotic rabbit aorta was performed at several wavelengths within 680-900 nm range. The spectral variation of photoacoustic response was extracted and a spectroscopic analysis was performed. The results of our preliminary study suggest that the spectroscopic intravascular photoacoustic imaging technique can be used to differentiate fibrous and lipid components of the atherosclerotic plaques.
Sethuraman
Shriram
S
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0800, Austin, TX 78712 USA.
Amirian
James H
JH
Litovsky
Silvio H
SH
Smalling
Richard W
RW
Emelianov
Stanislav Y
SY
D000818:Animals; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D011817:Rabbits; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*