Coronary imaging developer InfraReDx of Burlington, MA described the first successful clinical use of its LipiScan coronary imaging system at this week's Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) meeting in Seattle.
LipiScan uses near infrared spectroscopy to differentiate stable from unstable atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries by identifying those with a lipid core, according to the company. The device uses a catheter fitted with a fiber-optic laser light to determine the composition of the specific area under study.
Determining which plaque is vulnerable to rupture can help direct treatment, such as in the first clinical use of the system with a 70-year-old male patient who required cardiac catheterization. Because they were able to determine the composition of the plaque, physicians placed a stent that was 50% longer than the one that would have been used without the information, according to InfraReDx.
Related Reading
FDA clears InfraReDx's LipiScan, April 30, 2008
InfraReDx receives FDA clearance, October 19, 2006
Near-infrared spectroscopy can identify vulnerable plaques in atherosclerosis, September 29, 2002
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