Imaging of coronary artery microstructure (in vitro) with optical coherence tomography

doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(97)89143-6

The American Journal of Cardiology

Volume 77, Issue 1, 1 January 1996, Pages 92-93

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9149(97)89143-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

OCT achieves high-resolution and image differentiation of vascular tissues to a degree that has not been previously possible with any method except excisional biopsy. Thus, OCT represents a promising new diagnostic technology for intracoronary imaging, which could permit the in vivo evaluation of critical vascular pathology.

References (5)

D Huang et al.
Optical coherence tomography
Science
(1991)
MR Hee et al.
Optical coherence tomography of the human retina
Arch Ophthalmol
(1995)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (152)

Thin-cap fibroatheroma in acute coronary syndrome: Implication for intravascular imaging assessment
2024, International Journal of Cardiology
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a significant cardiovascular disease threat, has garnered increased focus concerning its etiological mechanisms. Thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) are central to ACS pathogenesis, characterized by lipid-rich plaques, profuse foam cells, cholesterol crystals, and fragile fibrous caps predisposed to rupture. While TCFAs may be latent and asymptomatic, their pivotal role in ACS risk is undeniable. High-resolution imaging techniques like Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) are instrumental for effective TCFA detection. Therapeutic strategies encompass pharmacological and interventional measures, including antiplatelet agents, statins, and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), aiding in plaque stabilization, inflammation reduction, and rupture risk mitigation. Despite the strong correlation between TCFAs and adverse prognoses in ACS patients, early detection and rigorous treatment significantly enhance patient prognosis and diminish cardiovascular events. This review aims to encapsulate recent advancements in TCFA research within ACS, covering formation mechanisms, clinical manifestations, and prognostic implications.
Automatic classification and segmentation of atherosclerotic plaques in the intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT)
2023, Biomedical Signal Processing and Control
Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is capable of delineating peri-luminal region, including thin fibrous cap, calcium, lipid and thrombus. The segmentation result of these plaques is needed when calculating some useful diagnostic indicators, such as the minimum fiber cap thickness or the maximum Plaque Structural Stress (PSS), to help the diagnosis of vulnerable plaque. Since only some images contain plaques, in order to simplify the network architecture, we designed a three-step framework with single task for each step in this paper to realize the machine learning based pixel-level semantic segmentation of plaque in IVOCT.
A three-step framework is designed: lumen segmentation, image classification and plaque semantic segmentation. Firstly, the lumen of IVOCT is segmented using U-Net. Then the patches are cropped along the lumen boundary, and the plaques in the patches are classified and merged to get whether the original image contains calcium or lipid plaque. In the classification procedure, a self-attention module is introduced into ResNet to form the improved self-attention ResNet. Finally, the selected images with plaque are segmented to get the pixel-level segmentation results of each plaque component, which is realized by an combined network composed by convolutional auto encoder and U-Net.
In the lumen segmentation step, the Dice coefficient is greater than 95%. In the classification step, the classification precision, sensitivity and specificity of calcium plaque are all 100%; and that of lipid plaque are 97%, 100% and 94% respectively. In the final segmentation step, the Dice coefficient of calcium plaque is 71.8% and that of lipid plaque is 60.5%; the sensitivity of calcium plaque is 78.4% and that of lipid plaque is 80.2%. The experiments show that compared to some commonly used networks the proposed method achieves better performance.
Intravascular Ultrasound and Optical Coherent Tomography Combined Catheter
2023, Interventional Cardiology Clinics
Intravascular Imaging During Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: JACC State-of-the-Art Review
2023, Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Coronary angiography has historically served as the gold standard for diagnosis of coronary artery disease and guidance of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Adjunctive use of contemporary intravascular imaging (IVI) technologies has emerged as a complement to conventional angiography—to further characterize plaque morphology and optimize the performance of PCI. IVI has utility for preintervention lesion and vessel assessment, periprocedural guidance of lesion preparation and stent deployment, and postintervention assessment of optimal endpoints and exclusion of complications. The role of IVI in reducing major adverse cardiac events in complex lesion subsets is emerging, and further studies evaluating broader use are underway or in development. This paper provides an overview of currently available IVI technologies, reviews data supporting their utilization for PCI guidance and optimization across a variety of lesion subsets, proposes best practices, and advocates for broader use of these technologies as a part of contemporary practice.
Optical Coherence Tomography of Plaque Vulnerability and Rupture: JACC Focus Seminar Part 1/3
2021, Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Plaque rupture is the most common cause of acute coronary syndromes and sudden cardiac death. Characteristics and pathobiology of vulnerable plaques prone to plaque rupture have been studied extensively over 2 decades in humans using optical coherence tomography (OCT), an intravascular imaging technique with micron scale resolution. OCT studies have identified key features of plaque vulnerability and described the in vivo characteristics and spatial distribution of thin cap fibroatheromas as major precursors to plaque rupture. In addition, OCT data supports the evolving understanding of coronary heart disease as a panvascular process associated with inflammation. In the setting of high atherosclerotic burden, plaque ruptures often occur at multiple sites in the coronary arteries, and plaque progression and healing are dynamic processes modulated by systemic risk factors. This review details major investigations with intravascular OCT into the biology and clinical implications of plaque vulnerability and plaque rupture.
A theoretical model for the micron resolution spectral domain optical coherence tomography
2021, Optics Communications
The resolution and effective imaging depth (EID) of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) are of great importance for visualizing the fine details of biological tissues. To this end, a theoretical model for the micron resolution spectral domain OCT was proposed with both the temporal coherence and the longitudinal spatial coherence considered. Based on the model, the parameters that influence the axial resolution, the signal intensity and the EID can be quantitatively analyzed. Among all the parameters the focusing effect of objective lens affects the signal intensity most due to the fast broadening of the effective point spread function (PSF) incident on the photosensitive surface of detector. It limits the EID defined by the signal fall-off less than $500 μ m$ . Similar to the dispersion mismatch between the sample arm and the reference arm, the NA of objective lens does influence the axial resolution in the form of convolution. A large NA, such as 0.4, would lead to multiple split peaks and severe side lobes in the axial PSF. The axial resolution could even be reduced to 11. $6 μ m$ , which is about ten times of the micron level resolution. For the EID defined by the micron axial resolution NA < 0.1 should be recommended, otherwise, the method to eliminate the effect of NA must be taken. Finally, the experimental results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our model.

View all citing articles on Scopus

^☆: This study was supported in part by Grants NIH-9-R01-EY11289-10 and NIH-9-R01-GM35459-O9 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and Medical Free Electron Laser Program Grant N00014-94-1-0717 from the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia.

¹: Dr. Fujimoto's address is: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office 36–361, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.

View full text

Brief reportImaging of coronary artery microstructure (in vitro) with optical coherence tomography☆

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography

Science

Optical coherence tomography of the human retina

Arch Ophthalmol

Brief report
Imaging of coronary artery microstructure (in vitro) with optical coherence tomography☆