Optical coherence tomography for imaging of chronic total occlusions

Abstract

Chronic total occlusions (CTOs) are defined as complete occlusions of an artery older than one month. Minimally invasive catheter-based interventions commonly employed for partial occlusions (e.g., balloon angioplasty followed by stenting) are problematic in CTOs because of the phycisian's inability to pass the device through the occlusion without a significant risk of arterial wall perforations. Furthermore, successfully treated CTOs exhibit a high re-occlusion rate. As a result, these cases are mostly sent to bypass surgery. With the advent of drug-eluting stents that reduce the incidence of re-occlusion, and thus, eliminating the second problem, new devices have begun to emerge that aim to recanalize CTOs without the cost and trauma of bypass surgery. These devices, however, need effective image guidance methods to ensure successful crossing of the CTOs. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is being evaluated as an intravascular imaging modality for guiding catheter-based interventions of CTOs. Occluded <i>ex vivo</i> human arterial samples were used to produce longitudinal cross-sections using an OCT system. These OCT images were compared with histology to assess OCT's ability to identify different components of the occluded artery, evaluate the imaging depth, and determine the ability to detect the underlying vessel wall. Given the inherent difficulties of creating a mechanically scanning OCT probe in the distal tip of a catheter for use in a stenotic artery, we directed our initial efforts towards developing a "motionless" fiber based OCT system using a single mode fiber array. We discuss design considerations for implementing a forward viewing intravascular OCT probe.