Abstract
Background and Objectives Atherosclerosis and plaque rupture leads to myocardial infarction and stroke. A novel hybrid optical coherence tomography (OCT) and two-photon luminescence (TPL) fiber-based imaging system was developed to characterize tissue constituents in the context of plaque morphology. Study Design/Materials and Methods Ex vivo coronary arteries (34 regions of interest) from three human hearts with atherosclerotic plaques were examined by OCT-TPL imaging. Histological sections (4μm in thickness) were stained with Oil Red O for lipid, Von Kossa for calcium, and Verhoeff-Masson Tri-Elastic for collagen/elastin fibers and compared with imaging results. Results Biochemical components in plaques including lipid, oxidized-LDL, and calcium, as well as a non-tissue component (metal) are distinguished by multi-channel TPL images with statistical significance (P<0.001). TPL imaging provides complementary optical contrast to OCT (two-photon absorption/emission vs scattering). Merged OCT-TPL images demonstrate the distribution of lipid deposits in registration with detailed plaque surface profile. Conclusions Results suggest that multi-channel TPL imaging can effectively identify lipid sub-types and different plaque components. Furthermore, fiber-based hybrid OCT-TPL imaging simultaneously detects plaque structure and composition, improving the efficacy of vulnerable plaque detection and characterization. Lasers Surg. Med. 47:485-494, 2015.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 485-494 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Lasers in Surgery and Medicine |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2015 |
Keywords
- atherosclerotic plaque
- calcium
- collagen/elastin fiber
- hybrid imaging
- lipid
- optical coherence tomography
- oxidized-LDL
- photonic crystal fiber
- two-photon luminescence imaging
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Dermatology