The American Heart Association (AHA) estimates that in the United States alone, more than one million people die annually from complications due to vulnerable plaque in their arteries and that the total yearly cost of treating coronary heart diseases exceeds $360 billion.
Konstantin V. Sokolov, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and Linda T. Nieman, Biomedical Engineering, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have jointly developed a novel technology that provides non-invasive tissue information relating to coronary disease progression and response to treatment. By utilizing a new depth-sensitive design that allows increased sensitivity and specificity in the detection and discrimination of vulnerable plaques, this technology is able to interluminally interrogate coronary arteries for plaque assessment and localization.
Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than one million lives each year (American Heart Association). Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque is the underlying mechanism for unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. Luminal narrowing of arteries caused by atherosclerotic plaque enlargement causes the chronic ischemic manifestations of coronary heart disease, whereas superimpositions of thrombi over the plaques lead to acute coronary syndromes.
Current methods for detecting plaque and artheroma in artery walls such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), thermography, and near-infrared spectroscopy have poor contrast or spatial resolution and thus fail to detect vulnerable plaques in a consistent manner. Other methods, like angiography and the cardiac stress test, do not provide insight into the disease state within the artery, and oftentimes fall short of detecting lesions prone to thrombosis.
Current methods for detecting plaque and artheroma in artery walls such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), thermography, and near-infrared spectroscopy have poor contrast or spatial resolution and thus fail to detect vulnerable plaques in a consistent manner. Other methods, like angiography and the cardiac stress test, do not provide insight into the disease state within the artery, and oftentimes fall short of detecting lesions prone to thrombosis.
In addition, the detection of vulnerable plaques and fibrous cap thickness can be achieved with the spectroscopic detection of nanoparticle accumulation. Not only is the catheter technology designed for compatibility with existing modalities such as angiography, MRI, CT, and IVUS, but small endoscope diameters are also achievable with this design, which permits use in coronary arteries of limited accessibility.
Benefits
- Extensive multi-modal capability
- Able to provide depth sensitive information with high resolution and contrast in a non-invasive manner
- Simple and low-cost design for commercial use
Features
- Fiber optic catheter has no moving parts and contains few components (permits the construction of a disposable device).
- Without fabricated optical components such as a lens, dimensions of the endoscope can be miniaturized to diameters less than a few millimeters (permits translation to coronary arteries with limited accessibility).
- Proposed device can be used alongside of and is designed for compatibility with existing modalities such as angiography, MRI, CT, and IVUS.
- Can be used to direct stents and inform treatment for improving patient prognosis
- Can be used to assess efficacy of drug therapy
Development Stage: Lab/bench prototype
OTC Contact Information: Ray Atilano, Licensing Specialist
ratilano@otc.utexas.edu, Tel: 512-471-4919
ratilano@otc.utexas.edu, Tel: 512-471-4919
Project ID: 1919-AL
Available for licensing
Available for licensing
