Intravascular Ultrasound Combined with Raman Spectroscopy

The structure and chemical composition of atherosclerotic plaques appear to determine whether a plaque will rupture, resulting in an acceleration of clinical symptoms. Previous studies showed that Raman spectroscopy techniques can determine the chemical composition of coronary artery wall.1 The calculated relative weights of the major lipid classes and calcium deposits in homogenised human coronary artery wall agreed with those determined by standard lipid assays (± 3%) and calcium salts assays (±5%).1 In addition, we have shown that Raman spectroscopy techniques can be applied on intact atherosclerotic plaques. Information about the depth of structures inside the vascular wall, such as calcifications and cholesterol deposits, is needed to integrate this quantitative compositional information with information about the localisation of these structures.