Circulation Reports
Online ISSN : 2434-0790
Reviews
Intravascular Polarimetry for Tissue Characterization of Coronary Atherosclerosis
Kenichiro OtsukaMartin VilligerSeemantini K. NadkarniBrett E. Bouma
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS FULL-TEXT HTML

2019 Volume 1 Issue 12 Pages 550-557

Details
Abstract

The microscopic tissue structure and organization influence the polarization of light. Intravascular polarimetry leverages this compelling intrinsic contrast mechanism by using polarization-sensitive optical frequency domain imaging to measure the polarization properties of the coronary arterial wall. Tissues rich in collagen and smooth muscle cells appear birefringent, while the presence of lipid causes depolarization, offering quantitative metrics related to the presence of important components of coronary atherosclerosis. Here, we review the basic principles, the interpretation of polarization signatures, and first clinical investigations of intravascular polarimetry and discuss how this extension of contemporary intravascular imaging may advance our knowledge and improve clinical practice in the future.

Content from these authors
© 2019 THE JAPANESE CIRCULATION SOCIETY

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International] license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top