Fluorescence Spectrum Analysis of Atherosclerotic Plaque Using Doxycycline

Abstract

arious interventional therapies are presently used in the treatment of ischemic heart disease. In clinical trials in the US, percutaneous transluminal laser coronary angioplasty (PTLCA) was performed on 3,000 patients and 3,592 lesions using excimer laser, with a reported success rate of 84%. 1 When this method is compared with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) using a balloon, PTLCA can be performed on diffuse lesions in which PTCA is difficult, and it may be possible to use the laser to recanalize a chronic total occlusion, a lesion in which the passage of a guide wire would be very difficult. In addition, PTCA is contraindicated in ostial stenosis, and PTLCA is considered the first choice in closed chest treatment. In PTLCA, however, unexpected coronary perforation occurs in between 1.2 to 2.4% of cases, 1-4 a rate which is obviously higher than for PTCA. As avoidance of coronary perforation is the paramount consideration in PTLCA, the requirement is for an appropriate guidance system to show the condition of the hypertrophic intima and the degree of ablation in real time, so that the atheroma alone is selectively ablated and the tunica media not irradiated.At present, evaluation of coronary arteriosclerotic lesions is made using angioscopy and intravascular ultrasound, neither of which can be inserted into the coronary artery at the same time as the laser irradiation system and so cannot be the appropriate guidance system. Fluorescence spectrum analysis is a method by which the fluorescence induced by irradiation at specific wavelengths of an arteriosclerotic lesion is examined in detail to make the diagno-

Optical spectroscopy for in vivo medical diagnosis—a review of the state of the art and future perspectives

“…There have been many examples of the use of fluorescent spectroscopy to discriminate between healthy and diseased tissues ex vivo published since the earliest report in the 1940s [98]. There have also been many examples of fluorescent point-based spectroscopy for diagnostic discrimination of healthy and diseased tissues in many parts of the anatomy, both in developmental animal models and in human medical trials, including the alimentary tract [44,, heart or major arteries [131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141], bladder [142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149], brain [45-48, 143, 150-175], breast [176], cervix [177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194], endocrine system [195][196][197][198]…”