Development of ECG-triggered high-speed optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-near infrared fluorescence imaging and their application to investigation of endothelial shear stress and inflammatory response in coronary arteries with bioresorbable stent implantation

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that non-physiological endothelial shear stress (ESS) is a possible reason of more stent thrombosis of bioresorbable stent than drug-eluting stent. This study presented systole-free 3D ESS data of bioresorbable stent implanted coronary arteries of swine by using in vivo high-speed ECG-triggered single-cardiac cycle OCT. Resulted ESS profile was compared with distant compensated NIRF signals from in vivo OCT/NIRF hybrid imaging to verify the biomechanical interaction. Calculated 3D ESS data with reduced cardiac motion artifact and dense longitudinal pitch showed more reliable interpretation on ESS – inflammation interaction.