Intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) imaging is a new 3D technique for assessing plaque buildup within blood vessel walls. It has a great deal of potential, but so far it has been difficult to create IVPA devices small enough for delivery by catheter that would provide the necessary image quality to help in diagnoses.
Now a team of investigators at Purdue University, Indiana University School of Medicine, and Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics in China have developed a way of positioning the optical and acoustic components on top of each other so they can fit into a tip of a typical endovascular catheter. The new design allows for imaging of coronary arteries up to 6 mm in depth, and even deeper.
The details of the workings of the technology will be presented at CLEO (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics) in San Jose, California in June.
Intravascular photoacoustic imaging of lipid-laden atherosclerotic plaque and perivascular fat was demonstrated, where a lab-built 500 Hz optical parametric oscillator outputting nanosecond optical pulses at a wavelength of 1.7 μm was used for overtone excitation of C-H bonds. In addition to intravascular imaging, the presented catheter design will benefit other photoacoustic applications such as needle-based intramuscular imaging.
Study in Scientific Reports: High-sensitivity intravascular photoacoustic imaging of lipid–laden plaque with a collinear catheter design…
Via: Optical Society…