Sethuraman Shriram, Aglyamov Salavat R, Amirian James H, Smalling Richard W, Emelianov Stanislav Y
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2007 May;54(5):978-86. doi: 10.1109/tuffc.2007.343.
Catheter-based imaging of atherosclerosis with high resolution, albeit invasive, is extremely important for screening and characterization of vulnerable plaques. Currently, there is a need for an imaging technique capable of providing comprehensive morphological and functional information of plaques. In this paper, we present an intravascular photoacoustic imaging technique to characterize vulnerable plaques by using optical absorption contrast between normal tissue and atherosclerotic lesions. Specifically, we investigate the feasibility of obtaining intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) images using a high-frequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging catheter. Indeed, the combination of IVPA imaging with clinically available IVUS imaging may provide desired functional and morphological assessment of the plaque. The imaging studies were performed with tissue-mimicking arterial vessel phantoms and excised samples of rabbit artery. The results of our study suggest that catheter-based intravascular photoacoustic imaging is possible, and the combination of IVPA with IVUS has the potential to detect and differentiate atherosclerosis based on both the structure and composition of the plaque.
基于导管的高分辨率动脉粥样硬化成像虽然具有侵入性，但对于易损斑块的筛查和特征描述极为重要。目前，需要一种能够提供斑块全面形态和功能信息的成像技术。在本文中，我们提出一种血管内光声成像技术，通过利用正常组织与动脉粥样硬化病变之间的光吸收对比来表征易损斑块。具体而言，我们研究了使用高频血管内超声（IVUS）成像导管获取血管内光声（IVPA）图像的可行性。事实上，IVPA成像与临床可用的IVUS成像相结合可能会提供所需的斑块功能和形态评估。成像研究使用了组织模拟动脉血管模型和兔动脉切除样本进行。我们的研究结果表明基于导管的血管内光声成像是可行的，并且IVPA与IVUS相结合有潜力基于斑块的结构和成分来检测和区分动脉粥样硬化。
