Abstract

Atherosclerosis, with its clinical sequelae, is the most common cause of death in the United States. In the atherosclerotic process, the innermost layer of the arterial wall becomes thickened due to cellular proliferation and the accumulation of cholesterol and lipids. The primary means of characterizing atherosclerotic lesions is histochemical analysis, in which arterial wall cross sections are studied under a microscope. This method requires removal of arterial tissue and is therefore not suited to arterial wall characterization <i>in vivo.</i> Consequently, histopathological information is rarely available clinically for selecting an appropriate therapy. To overcome this limitation, researchers are exploring several nondestructive techniques, such as ultrasound, UV-visible absorption, and UV-visible fluorescence, as alternative methods of probing arterial wall composition and structure.

Ex vivo Characterization of Atherosclerosis using Intravascular Photoacoustic Imaging

Shriram Sethuraman, James H. Amirian, Silvio H. Litovsky, Richard W. Smalling, and Stanislav Y. Emelianov
Opt. Express 15(25) 16657-16666 (2007)

Assessment of arterial characteristics in human atherosclerosis by extracting optical properties from polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

Wen-Chuan Kuo, Ming-Wei Hsiung, Jeou-Jong Shyu, Nai-Kuan Chou, and Po-Nien Yang
Opt. Express 16(11) 8117-8125 (2008)

Lipid detection in atherosclerotic human coronaries by spectroscopic intravascular photoacoustic imaging

Krista Jansen, Min Wu, Antonius F. W. van der Steen, and Gijs van Soest
Opt. Express 21(18) 21472-21484 (2013)

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography for imaging human atherosclerosis

Wen-Chuan Kuo, Nai-Kuan Chou, Chien Chou, Chih-Ming Lai, Huan-Jang Huang, Shoei-Shen Wang, and Jeou-Jong Shyu
Appl. Opt. 46(13) 2520-2527 (2007)

Intravascular photoacoustic imaging of human coronary atherosclerosis

Krista Jansen, Antonius F. W. van der Steen, Heleen M. M. van Beusekom, J. Wolter Oosterhuis, and Gijs van Soest
Opt. Lett. 36(5) 597-599 (2011)