UC Irvine Researchers Secure NIH Grant to Advanced Intravascular Imaging System
UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic researchers Drs. Zhongping Chen and Howard Lee were awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop an advanced imaging system for interventional cardiology.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart-related issue, affecting over 18 million adults and resulting in more than 350,000 deaths annually in recent years. Acute coronary events are primarily caused by ruptured atherosclerotic plaques, emphasizing the need for early detection and accurate identification of plaque types as the first line of defense. Obtaining detailed morphology and functional information on atherosclerotic plaques is crucial for advancing clinical management of atherosclerosis.
Drs. Chen and Lee, working alongside UC Irvine collaborator Dr. Pranav Patel and Dr. Qifa Zho from USC are developing an advanced intravascular imaging system that combines the high spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography, the broad imaging depth of ultrasound, and the high molecular sensitivity of photoacoustic tomography. The multimodal imaging probe designed for studying and characterizing plaque vulnerability requires only a single disposable guide wire and catheter, which will help reduce costs, procedural risks, procedure time, and radiation exposure for patients.
This system will assist clinicians in detecting high-risk arterial areas, customizing treatment approaches for individual patients, monitoring the progression of the disease over time, and evaluating therapeutic effectiveness. The system is expected to serve as a powerful clinical tool, offering a quantitative methods to benchmark and evaluate new medical devices and therapies in cardiovascular medicine.
Click here to read more about the “Development of Integrated OCT/US/PAT System for Intravascular Imaging” study.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HL177188. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
