N. Anastassopoulou et al., Spectroscopic characterisation of carotid atherosclerotic plaque by laser induced fluorescence, LASER SURG, 28(1), 2001, pp. 67-73
Background and Objective: An effort has been made to distinguish the compos
ition of carotid atherosclerotic plaques (CAP) from patients undergoing car
otid endarterectomy, by laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy.
Study Design/Materials and Methods: Different excitation wavelengths were u
sed: 476, 488, and 458 nm of a continuous wave krypton/argon ion laser, and
337 nm of a pulsed nitrogen laser. Twenty-three CAP samples from different
patients were investigated and several spectra from each plaque were obtai
ned.
Results: Results were crossed-examined with conventional histologic techniq
ues, which showed three areas of different composition on the pathologic sa
mples: fibrous tissue, lipid constituents, and calcified plaque. Gaussian f
ittings were performed to reproduce the fluorescence spectra as a correlati
on of multiple Gaussian curves.
Conclusion: The accuracy for discrimination of the heterogeneous compositio
n of the atherosclerotic plaque is still limited, due to superposition of t
he fluorescence emission of various plaque components. Lasers Surg. Med. 28
: 67-73, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.