Open AccessTowards in vivo photoacoustic imaging of vulnerable plaques in the carotid artery
Author(s) -
Jan-Willem Muller,
Roy P. M. van Hees,
Marc R.H.M. van Sambeek,
Pierre Boutouyrie,
Marcel Rutten,
Peter J. Brands,
Min Wu,
R.G.P. Lopata
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.430064
Subject(s) - carotid endarterectomy , medicine , photoacoustic imaging in biomedicine , carotid arteries , stenosis , in vivo , vulnerable plaque , radiology , endarterectomy , preclinical imaging , biomedical engineering , pathology , optics , biology , physics , microbiology and biotechnology
The main indicator for endarterectomy is the grade of stenosis, which results in severe overtreatment. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) can provide patient-specific assessment of plaque morphology, and thereby vulnerability. A pilot study of PAI on carotid plaques in patients (n=16) was performed intraoperatively with a hand-held PAI system. By compensating for motion, the photoacoustic (PA) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) could be increased by 5 dB in vivo. PA signals from hemorrhagic plaques had different characteristics compared to the signals from the carotid blood pool. This study is a key step towards a non-invasive application of PAI to detect vulnerable plaques.