Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a primary cause of critical ischemic disease and disease attributed atherosclerosis is major mortality in the world today. The risk of critical event is involved the content of lipid in plaque. Near-infrared multispectral imaging (MSI) is suitable for the evaluation of plaque because it can provide spectroscopic information and spatial image quickly with simple measurement system. In this paper, the optimal wavelengths to detect plaque were investigated in the near-infrared wavelength range with atherosclerotic phantom. Supercontinuum light was illuminated on a grating spectrometer for the selection of a specific wavelength, and the wavelength-limited light was irradiated to the phantom. Two phantoms were observed by near-infrared camera in the wavelength range from 1150 to 1790 nm. Plaque phantom can be detected with three wavelengths containing an absorption peak of lipid at 1210 nm or 1730 nm. Especially, the absorption peak at 1730 nm had advantage over 1210 nm even considering the difference of penetration depth. The multispectral images were blurred with decreasing the number of wavelengths. These result showed the possibility of MSI using three wavelengths including 1210 nm and 1730 nm for enhancing diagnosis of atherosclerotic plaque.

© 2013 SPIE