The diagnostic accuracy and assessment of atherosclerotic plaque morphology with intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) is currently limited by the rapid attenuation of OCT signal in tissue, limiting contrast on deep plaque structure and accurate assessment of plaque burden. Our algorithms, developed to improve the contrast of ocular tissues, have been used here to improve detection of cornary artery plaques (see Figure). Our algorithms have been shown to reveal details within the superficial (*) and outer contour of the athero-sclerotic plaque (arrow) that may be critical for interpretation of plaque composition. These algorithms may improve our interpretation of athero-sclerotic plaque morphology imaged by intravascular OCT.

This is a project in collaboration with Dr Nicolas Foin from Imperial College London and Dr Jean Martial Mari from INSERM.