Atherosclerosis, the development of intraluminal plaque, is a fundamental pathology of cardiovascular system and remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Biomechanical in nature, plaque rupture occurs when the mechanical properties of the plaque, related to the morphology and viscoelastic properties, are compromised, resulting in intraluminal thrombosis and reduction of coronary blood flow. In this report, we describe the first simultaneous application of confocal Brillouin and Raman microscopies to ex-vivo aortic wall samples. Such a non-invasive, high specific approach allows revealing a direct relationship between the biochemical and mechanical properties of atherosclerotic tissue.

Date Published: 6 April 2015
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9303, Photonic Therapeutics and Diagnostics XI, 93033N (6 April 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2080366

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9303:
Photonic Therapeutics and Diagnostics XI
Hyun Wook Kang; Brian J. F. Wong M.D.; Melissa C. Skala; Bernard Choi; Guillermo J. Tearney M.D.; Andreas Mandelis; Nikiforos Kollias; Kenton W. Gregory M.D.; Mark W. Dewhirst D.V.M.; Justus F. Ilgner M.D.; Alfred Nuttal; Haishan Zeng; Laura Marcu; Claus-Peter Richter, Editor(s)