The formation and development of plaques in the arterial wall is a direct consequence of atherosclerosis. The composition of a plaque is of particular interest as it is thought to be an important indicator of vulnerability, or risk of rupture and thrombosis. Current diagnostic methods do not yet have the ability to fully characterize plaque composition. Coherent-scatter imaging, a technique being developed in our laboratory, produces images based on the low-angle scattering properties of tissue. As these properties depend on molecular structure, material-specific maps of the different components in a tissue can be created. Material-specific images were produced for an atherosclerotic carotid artery. The image distributions of fatty and calcified deposits agreed with visual examination of the specimen. Preliminary results indicate that fat and calcifications, two typical plaque constituents, can be identified and distinguished from the undiseased vessel wall using coherently scattered x rays.

Date Published: 3 May 2002
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 4682, Medical Imaging 2002: Physics of Medical Imaging, (3 May 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.465617

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4682:
Medical Imaging 2002: Physics of Medical Imaging
Larry E. Antonuk; Martin Joel Yaffe, Editor(s)