OBJECTIVES The aims of this first-in-human pilot study of intravascular polarimetry were to investigate polarization properties of coronary plaques in patients and to examine the relationship of these features with established structural characteristics available to conventional optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) and with clinical presentation. BACKGROUND Polarization-sensitive OFDI measures birefringence and depolarization of tissue together with conventional cross-sectional optical frequency domain images of subsurface microstructure. METHODS Thirty patients undergoing polarization-sensitive OFDI (acute coronary syndrome, n = 12; stable angina pectoris, n = 18) participated in this study. Three hundred forty-two cross-sectional images evenly distributed along all imaged coronary arteries were classified into 1 of 7 plaque categories according to conventional OFDI. Polarization features averaged over the entire intimal area of each cross section were compared among plaque types and with structural parameters. Furthermore, the polarization properties in cross sections (n = 244) of the fibrous caps of acute coronary syndrome and stable angina pectoris culprit lesions were assessed and compared with structural features using a generalized linear model. RESULTS The median birefringence and depolarization showed statistically significant differences among plaque types (p < 0.001 for both, one-way analysis of variance). Depolarization differed significantly among individual plaque types (p < 0.05), except between normal arteries and fibrous plaques and between fibrofatty and fibrocalcified plaques. Caps of acute coronary syndrome lesions and ruptured caps exhibited lower birefringence than caps of stable angina pectoris lesions (p < 0.01). In addition to clinical presentation, cap birefringence was also associated with macrophage accumulation as assessed using normalized SD. CONCLUSIONS Intravascular polarimetry provides quantitative metrics that help characterize coronary arterial tissues and may offer refined insight into coronary arterial atherosclerotic lesions in patients.

中文翻译：

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冠状动脉疾病患者的血管内极化测定。

目的这项关于血管内极化的首次人体试验研究的目的是研究患者冠状动脉斑块的极化特性，并检查这些特征与常规光频域成像（OFDI）可获得的既定结构特征以及与临床之间的关系。介绍。背景技术偏振敏感的OFDI测量组织的双折射和去偏振以及地下微观结构的常规截面光学频域图像。方法30例接受极化敏感性OFDI（急性冠状动脉综合征，n = 12；稳定型心绞痛，n = 18）的患者参加了这项研究。沿所有成像冠状动脉均匀分布的三十二个横截面图像根据常规OFDI分为7个斑块类别中的1个。比较了每个横截面整个内膜区域上的极化特征，并比较了噬菌斑类型和结构参数。此外，评估了急性冠状动脉综合征和稳定的心绞痛罪魁祸首病变的纤维帽的横截面（n = 244）的极化特性，并使用广义线性模型将其与结构特征进行了比较。结果中度双折射和去极化在斑块类型之间显示出统计学上的显着差异（单因素方差分析，两者均p <0.001）。各个菌斑类型的去极化差异显着（p <0.05），除了正常动脉和纤维斑之间以及纤维脂肪和纤维钙化斑之间。急性冠状动脉综合征病变的帽和破裂的帽比稳定型心绞痛病变的帽表现出更低的双折射（p <0.01）。除了临床表现外，帽盖双折射也与巨噬细胞积累有关，如使用标准化SD评估的那样。结论血管内极化技术可提供定量指标，有助于表征冠状动脉组织，并可提供对患者冠状动脉粥样硬化病变的深入了解。使用归一化SD评估，帽双折射也与巨噬细胞积累有关。结论血管内极化技术可提供定量指标，有助于表征冠状动脉组织，并可提供对患者冠状动脉粥样硬化病变的深入了解。使用归一化SD评估，帽双折射也与巨噬细胞积累有关。结论血管内极化技术可提供定量指标，有助于表征冠状动脉组织，并可提供对患者冠状动脉粥样硬化病变的深入了解。