Browsing by Author "Cao, Yingchun"

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    Comparative Quantification of Arterial Lipid by Intravascular Photoacoustic-Ultrasound Imaging and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy-Intravascular Ultrasound
    (Springer, 2018-11-28) Kole, Ayeeshik; Cao, Yingchun; Hui, Jie; Bolad, Islam A.; Alloosh, Mouhamad; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Sturek, Michael; Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    Intravascular photoacoustic-ultrasound (IVPA-US) imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy-intravascular ultrasound (NIRS-IVUS) are two hybrid modalities that detect arterial lipid, with comparison necessary to understand the relative advantages of each. We performed in vivo and ex vivo IVPA-US imaging of the iliac arteries of Ossabaw swine with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and lean swine to investigate sensitivity for early-stage atherosclerosis. We repeated imaging ex vivo with NIRS-IVUS for comparison to IVPA-US and histology. Both modalities showed significantly greater lipid in MetS vs. lean swine, but only IVPA-US localized the lipid as perivascular. To investigate late-stage atherosclerosis, we performed ex vivo IVPA-US imaging of a human coronary artery with comparison to NIRS-IVUS and histology. Two advanced fibroatheromas were identified, with agreement between IVPA-measured lipid area and NIRS-derived lipid content. As confirmed histologically, IVPA-US has sensitivity to detect lipid content similar to NIRS-IVUS and provides additional depth resolution, enabling quantification and localization of lipid cores within plaques.
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    Cylindrical illumination with angular coupling for whole-prostate photoacoustic tomography
    (Optical Society of America, 2019-02-22) Bungart, Brittani; Cao, Yingchun; Yang-Tran, Tiffany; Gorsky, Sean; Lan, Lu; Roblyer, Darren; Koch, Michael O.; Cheng, Liang; Masterson, Timothy; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Current diagnosis of prostate cancer relies on histological analysis of tissue samples acquired by biopsy, which could benefit from real-time identification of suspicious lesions. Photoacoustic tomography has the potential to provide real-time targets for prostate biopsy guidance with chemical selectivity, but light delivered from the rectal cavity has been unable to penetrate to the anterior prostate. To overcome this barrier, a urethral device with cylindrical illumination is developed for whole-prostate imaging, and its performance as a function of angular light coupling is evaluated with a prostate-mimicking phantom.
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    Fast assessment of lipid content in arteries in vivo by intravascular photoacoustic tomography
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2018-02-05) Cao, Yingchun; Kole, Ayeeshik; Hui, Jie; Zhang, Yi; Mai, Jieying; Alloosh, Mouhamad; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    Intravascular photoacoustic tomography is an emerging technology for mapping lipid deposition within an arterial wall for the investigation of the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques to rupture. By converting localized laser absorption in lipid-rich biological tissue into ultrasonic waves through thermoelastic expansion, intravascular photoacoustic tomography is uniquely capable of imaging the entire arterial wall with chemical selectivity and depth resolution. However, technical challenges, including an imaging catheter with sufficient sensitivity and depth and a functional sheath material without significant signal attenuation and artifact generation for both photoacoustics and ultrasound, have prevented in vivo application of intravascular photoacoustic imaging for clinical translation. Here, we present a highly sensitive quasi-collinear dual-mode photoacoustic/ultrasound catheter with elaborately selected sheath material, and demonstrated the performance of our intravascular photoacoustic tomography system by in vivo imaging of lipid distribution in rabbit aortas under clinically relevant conditions at imaging speeds up to 16 frames per second. Ex vivo evaluation of fresh human coronary arteries further confirmed the performance of our imaging system for accurate lipid localization and quantification of the entire arterial wall, indicating its clinical significance and translational capability.
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    High-sensitivity intravascular photoacoustic imaging of lipid-laden plaque with a collinear catheter design
    (SpringerNature, 2016-04-28) Cao, Yingchun; Hui, Jie; Kole, Ayeeshik; Wang, Pu; Yu, Qianhuan; Chen, Weibiao; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology, IU School of Medicine
    A highly sensitive catheter probe is critical to catheter-based intravascular photoacoustic imaging. Here, we present a photoacoustic catheter probe design on the basis of collinear alignment of the incident optical wave and the photoacoustically generated sound wave within a miniature catheter housing for the first time. Such collinear catheter design with an outer diameter of 1.6 mm provided highly efficient overlap between optical and acoustic waves over an imaging depth of >6 mm in D2O medium. Intravascular photoacoustic imaging of lipid-laden atherosclerotic plaque and perivascular fat was demonstrated, where a lab-built 500 Hz optical parametric oscillator outputting nanosecond optical pulses at a wavelength of 1.7 μm was used for overtone excitation of C-H bonds. In addition to intravascular imaging, the presented catheter design will benefit other photoacoustic applications such as needle-based intramuscular imaging.
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    High-speed intravascular photoacoustic imaging at 1.7 μm with a KTP-based OPO
    (The Optical Society, 2015-11-01) Hui, Jie; Yu, Qianhuan; Ma, Teng; Wang, Pu; Cao, Yingchun; Bruning, Rebecca S.; Qu, Yueqiao; Chen, Zhongping; Zhou, Qifa; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Chen, Weibiao; Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology, IU School of Medicine
    Lipid deposition inside the arterial wall is a hallmark of plaque vulnerability. Based on overtone absorption of C-H bonds, intravascular photoacoustic (IVPA) catheter is a promising technology for quantifying the amount of lipid and its spatial distribution inside the arterial wall. Thus far, the clinical translation of IVPA technology is limited by its slow imaging speed due to lack of a high-pulse-energy high-repetition-rate laser source for lipid-specific first overtone excitation at 1.7 μm. Here, we demonstrate a potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP)-based optical parametric oscillator with output pulse energy up to 2 mJ at a wavelength of 1724 nm and with a repetition rate of 500 Hz. Using this laser and a ring-shape transducer, IVPA imaging at speed of 1 frame per sec was demonstrated. Performance of the IVPA imaging system's resolution, sensitivity, and specificity were characterized by carbon fiber and a lipid-mimicking phantom. The clinical utility of this technology was further evaluated ex vivo in an excised atherosclerotic human femoral artery with comparison to histology.
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    Highly Sensitive Intravascular Photoacoustic Imaging with a Collinear Catheter Probe
    (OSA, 2016-06) Cao, Yingchun; Hui, Jie; Kole, Ayeeshik; Wang, Pu; Chen, Weibiao; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    A collinear catheter for label-free intravascular photoacoustic imaging was developed with a diameter of 1.6 mm. The collinear overlap between optical and acoustic waves enabled photoacoustic imaging of a human coronary artery from lumen to perivascular fat.
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    Highly sensitive lipid detection and localization in atherosclerotic plaque with a dual-frequency intravascular photoacoustic/ultrasound catheter
    (Wiley, 2020) Cao, Yingchun; Alloosh, Mouhamad; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine
    Intravascular photoacoustic/ultrasound (IVPA/US) is an emerging hybrid imaging modality that provides specific lipid detection and localization, while maintaining co-registered artery morphology, for diagnosis of vulnerable plaque in cardiovascular disease. However, current IVPA/US approaches based on a single-element transducer exhibit compromised performance for lipid detection due to the relatively low contrast of lipid absorption and conflicting detection bands for photoacoustic and ultrasound signals. Here, we present a dual-frequency IVPA/US catheter for highly sensitive detection and precision localization of lipids. The low frequency transducer provides enhanced photoacoustic sensitivity, while the high frequency transducer maintains state-of-the-art spatial resolution for ultrasound imaging. The boosted capability of IVPA/US imaging enables a multi-scale analysis of lipid distribution in swine with coronary atherosclerosis. The dual-frequency IVPA/US catheter has a diameter of 1 mm and flexibility to easily adapt to current catheterization procedures and is a significant step toward clinical diagnosis of vulnerable plaque.
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    Real-time intravascular photoacoustic-ultrasound imaging of lipid-laden plaque at speed of video-rate level
    (SPIE, 2017) Hui, Jie; Cao, Yingchun; Zhang, Yi; Kole, Ayeeshik; Wang, Pu; Yu, Guangli; Eakins, Gregory; Sturek, Michael; Chen, Weibiao; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    Intravascular photoacoustic-ultrasound (IVPA-US) imaging is an emerging hybrid modality for the detection of lipidladen plaques by providing simultaneous morphological and lipid-specific chemical information of an artery wall. The clinical utility of IVPA-US technology requires real-time imaging and display at speed of video-rate level. Here, we demonstrate a compact and portable IVPA-US system capable of imaging at up to 25 frames per second in real-time display mode. This unprecedented imaging speed was achieved by concurrent innovations in excitation laser source, rotary joint assembly, 1 mm IVPA-US catheter, differentiated A-line strategy, and real-time image processing and display algorithms. By imaging pulsatile motion at different imaging speeds, 16 frames per second was deemed to be adequate to suppress motion artifacts from cardiac pulsation for in vivo applications. Our lateral resolution results further verified the number of A-lines used for a cross-sectional IVPA image reconstruction. The translational capability of this system for the detection of lipid-laden plaques was validated by ex vivo imaging of an atherosclerotic human coronary artery at 16 frames per second, which showed strong correlation to gold-standard histopathology.
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    Real-time intravascular photoacoustic-ultrasound imaging of lipid-laden plaque in human coronary artery at 16 frames per second
    (SpringerNature, 2017-05-03) Hui, Jie; Cao, Yingchun; Zhang, Yi; Kole, Ayeeshik; Wang, Pu; Yu, Guangli; Eakins, Gregory; Sturek, Michael; Chen, Weibiao; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    Intravascular photoacoustic-ultrasound (IVPA-US) imaging is an emerging hybrid modality for the detection of lipid-laden plaques, as it provides simultaneous morphological and lipid-specific chemical information of an artery wall. Real-time imaging and display at video-rate speed are critical for clinical utility of the IVPA-US imaging technology. Here, we demonstrate a portable IVPA-US system capable of imaging at up to 25 frames per second in real-time display mode. This unprecedented imaging speed was achieved by concurrent innovations in excitation laser source, rotary joint assembly, 1 mm IVPA-US catheter size, differentiated A-line strategy, and real-time image processing and display algorithms. Spatial resolution, chemical specificity, and capability for imaging highly dynamic objects were evaluated by phantoms to characterize system performance. An imaging speed of 16 frames per second was determined to be adequate to suppress motion artifacts from cardiac pulsation for in vivo applications. The translational capability of this system for the detection of lipid-laden plaques was validated by ex vivo imaging of an atherosclerotic human coronary artery at 16 frames per second, which showed strong correlation to gold-standard histopathology. Thus, this high-speed IVPA-US imaging system presents significant advances in the translational intravascular and other endoscopic applications.
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    Spectral analysis assisted photoacoustic imaging for lipid composition differentiation
    (Elsevier, 2017-06-06) Cao, Yingchun; Kole, Ayeeshik; Lan, Lu; Wang, Pu; Hui, Jie; Sturek, Michael; Cheng, Ji-Xin; Cellular and Integrative Physiology, School of Medicine
    Recent advances in atherosclerotic plaque detection have shown that not only does lipid core size and depth play important roles in plaque rupture and thrombi formation, but lipid composition, especially cholesterol deposition, is equally important in determining lesion vulnerability. Here, we demonstrate a spectral analysis assisted photoacoustic imaging approach to differentiate and map lipid compositions within an artery wall. The approach is based on the classification of spectral curves obtained from the sliding windows along time-of-flight photoacoustic signals via a numerical k-means clustering method. The evaluation result on a vessel-mimicking phantom containing cholesterol and olive oil shows accuracy and efficiency of this method, suggesting the potential to apply this approach in assessment of atherosclerotic plaques.