Optical imaging techniques for vulnerable plaque detection

Abstract

Vulnerable plaque rupture is the most important cause of myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome. Therefore, identifying vulnerable plaques is of prime importance, which will in turn aid in the development of treatments to stabilise them. Currently, there are a number of techniques to detect vulnerable plaques. This review article gives a brief understanding about the current optical imaging techniques used to detect vulnerable plaques. The methods used currently are spectroscopy, angioscopy, near-infrared spectroscopy, photoacoustic imaging and, optical coherence tomography. Moreover, this article aims at assessing the state-of-the-art optical imaging techniques used for vulnerable plaque detection.