Author(s)

Katsunori Ishii¹, Akiko Kitayabu¹, Ryo Nagao¹, Kunio Awazu^1,2,3*

¹Medical Beam Physics Laboratory, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
²Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
³The Center for Advanced Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

We observed atherosclerotic plaque phantoms using a novel near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technique. Data were obtained through saline or blood layers to simulate an angioscopic environment for the phantom. For the study, we developed a NIR-HSI system with an NIR supercontinuum light source and mercury-cadmium-telluride camera. Apparent spectral absorbance was obtained at wavelengths of 1150 - 2400 nm. Hyperspectral images of lipid were constructed using a spectral angle mapper algorithm. Bovine fat covered with saline or blood was observed using hyperspectral images at a wavelength around 1200 nm. Our results show that NIR-HSI is a promising angioscopic technique with the potential to identify lipid-rich plaques without clamping and saline injection.

Hyperspectral Imaging, Near-Infrared Range, Atherosclerotic Plaque, Angioscopy

Ishii, K. , Kitayabu, A. , Nagao, R. and Awazu, K. (2014) Observation of Atherosclerotic Plaque Phantoms through Saline or Blood Layers by Near-Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging. Optics and Photonics Journal, 4, 271-279. doi: 10.4236/opj.2014.410026.