Aug 11 2010
The American Institute of Physics has published an article describing the new optical imaging technique for improving angioplasty. The angioplasty is a surgery for treating patients identified with completely or partially blocked coronary artery.
Cross-sectional imaging of Balloon Inflation in a Coronary Artery
In the angioplasty surgery, a slim balloon-tipped tube is threaded to the spot in the heart artery from an artery in the groin. Then the balloon is inflated in order to compress the plaque, which is blocking the artery in the heart. In addition, the balloons can be used for deploying a stent into the artery for keeping the artery open and preventing reblockage, during the angioplasty surgery.
The researchers combined an OCT (optical coherence tomography) imaging system with a deployment tester to enhance the deployment of balloon in the angioplasty procedure. They performed a pullback of the balloon’s catheter OCT probe. As a result, they found that the thickness and diameter of the balloon can be measured precisely.
Source: http://www.aip.org