Key result
A hybrid intravascular diagnostic system combining FLIm and IVUS was successfully developed and validated in pig coronary arteries, demonstrating accurate co-registration of fluorescence and ultrasound.
A novel hybrid FLIm and IVUS catheter system demonstrates accurate and rapid co-registration of biochemical and morphological features in pig coronary arteries, showing potential for clinical intravascular imaging.
Feasibility shown in pigs; leaves open clinical translation of hybrid FLIm-IVUS for human coronary imaging.
We report the development and validation of a hybrid intravascular diagnostic system combining multispectral fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) for cardiovascular imaging applications. A prototype FLIm system based on fluorescence pulse sampling technique providing information on artery biochemical composition was integrated with a commercial IVUS system providing information on artery morphology. A customized 3-Fr bimodal catheter combining a rotational side-view fiberoptic and a 40-MHz IVUS transducer was constructed for sequential helical scanning (rotation and pullback) of tubular structures. Validation of this bimodal approach was conducted in pig heart coronary arteries. Spatial resolution, fluorescence detection efficiency, pulse broadening effect, and lifetime measurement variability of the FLIm system were systematically evaluated. Current results show that this system is capable of temporarily resolving the fluorescence emission simultaneously in multiple spectral channels in a single pullback sequence. Accurate measurements of fluorescence decay characteristics from arterial segments can be obtained rapidly (e.g., 20 mm in 5 s), and accurate co-registration of fluorescence and ultrasound features can be achieved. The current finding demonstrates the compatibility of FLIm instrumentation with in vivo clinical investigations and its potential to complement conventional IVUS during catheterization procedures.
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Ma et al. (2014) studied Cardiovascular imaging. Hybrid intravascular diagnostic system combining multispectral fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) was evaluated on Spatial resolution, fluorescence detection efficiency, pulse broadening effect, and lifetime measurement variability. A hybrid intravascular diagnostic system combining FLIm and IVUS was successfully developed and validated in pig coronary arteries, demonstrating accurate co-registration of fluorescence and ultrasound.