Detection of lipid pool, thin fibrous cap, and inflammatory cells in human aortic atherosclerotic plaques by near-infrared spectroscopy.

Abstract

Background — A method is needed to identify nonstenotic, lipid-rich coronary plaques that are likely to cause acute coronary events. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy can provide information on the chemical composition of tissue. We tested the hypothesis that NIR spectroscopy can identify plaque composition and features associated with plaque vulnerability in human aortic atherosclerotic plaques obtained at the time of autopsy. Methods and Results — A total of 199 samples from 5 human aortic specimens were analyzed by NIR spectroscopy. Features of plaque vulnerability were defined by histology as presence of lipid pool, thin fibrous cap (Conclusions — NIR spectroscopy can identify plaque composition and features associated with plaque vulnerability in postmortem human aortic specimens. These results support efforts to develop an NIR spectroscopy catheter system to detect vulnerable coronary plaques in living patients.