IVUS Detection of Rupture Prone Plaques
Principal Investigator: Marvin Doyley Ph.D
Collaborators
- Renato Perucchio Ph.D; Dept Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester
- Joshua Rychak Ph.D; Targeson Inc
- Flemming Forsberg Ph.D; Dept of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University
- Fredrick Ling M.D.; Dept of Cardiology University of Rochester Medical School
Research team
- Michael Richards, Ph.D
- Himanshu Shekhar, M.S
- Shayin Jing, M.S
Summary
Cardiovascular disease kills more Americans than all cancers combined, these fatalities occur when a coronary atherosclerotic plaque ruptures. Life-threatening atherosclerotic plaques are difficult to detect because they are usually asymptomatic, and coronary angiography cannot visualize atherosclerotic plaques or the arterial wall.
The purpose of this project is to develop ultrasonic methods to improve the detection of life-threatening plaques. We have developed intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging methods for assessing the functional and structural properties of coronary arteries. In this study we will evaluate the performance of these methods using an atherosclerotic hypercholesterolemia rabbit model to determine a) how the functional and structural properties of atherosclerotic plaques change as the disease progresses, and b) whether combining functional and structural information of an atherosclerotic plaque would improve the detection of life-threatening atherosclerotic plaques and improve our ability to predict their propensity to rupture. A successful outcome of the proposed work may prove to be beneficial to over 50 million Americans who are unaware that they may be suffering from advanced coronary atherosclerosis and should be placed on a lipid-lowering dietary and pharmacological treatment.
Support
NIH R01 HL088523