Development of catheters for combined intravascular ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging

Coronary atherosclerosis is a complex disease accompanied by the development of plaques in the arterial wall. Since the vulnerability of the plaques depends on their composition, the appropriate treatment of the arteriosclerosis requires a reliable characterization of the plaques' geometry and content. The intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging is capable of providing structural details of the plaques as well as some functional information. In turn, more functional information about the same plaques can be obtained from intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) images since the optical properties of the plaque's components differ from that of their environment. The combined IVUS/IVPA imaging is capable of simultaneously detecting and differentiating the plaques, thus determining their vulnerability. The potential of combined IVUS/IVPA imaging has already been demonstrated in phantoms and ex-vivo experiments. However, for in-vivo or clinical imaging, an integrated IVUS/IVPA catheter is required. In this paper, we introduce two prototypes of integrated IVUS/IVPA catheters for in-vivo imaging based on a commercially available single-element IVUS imaging catheter. The light delivery systems are developed using multimode optical fibers with custom-designed distal tips. Both prototypes were tested and compared using an arterial mimicking phantom. The advantages and limitations of both designs are discussed. Overall, the results of our studies suggest that both designs of integrated IVUS/IVPA catheter have a potential for in-vivo IVPA/IVUS imaging of atherosclerotic plaques.