Doctors may be one step closer to predicting fatal heart attacks, thanks to a new infrared imaging technology able to visualize lipid-core plaque — a type of cholesterol-rich plaque scientists now believe is responsible for fatal heart attacks.

Using a TVC Imaging System that combines near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), lipid core plaque detection, and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging technology, scientists were able to identify lipid-core plaque in STEMI patients.

Multiple autopsy studies of patients have shown that lipid-core plaque rupture is the most common cause of fatal heart attacks.
Now, the study investigators raise the question that this plaque may be detectable in patients before the heart attack even happens — meaning identifying this plaque could predict or even prevent fatal heart attacks.

"There are still a million heart attacks per year in the United States — of those heart attacks we currently cannot predict a single one of them before they occur," said Dr. Ryan Madder, Spectrum Health interventional cardiologist and principal investigator of the study.

Though certain other modalities are able to detect lipid-core plaque, this technology is largely automated and less user-dependent, making it a more efficient diagnostic tool.

"It's very easy to learn this technology — in a busy cath lab we don't have the time to spend hours interpreting images," said Madder.

At the press of a button, the catheter placed in the artery scans the entire vessel with near-infrared light. Based on how the light reflects back from the arterial wall, it identifies the lipid. In a matter of minutes the system creates an image of the artery, making the lipids stand out in yellow.

This technology may also have another benefit: not only is it able to identify and recognize lipid-core plaque, it can also show how much lipid-core plaque is present, a potentially important metric to help predict the trouble spots where ruptures may be most likely to occur.

"In every patient we imaged we kept finding the same near infrared signature over and over again," said Madder. "It became apparent very quickly that we were onto something very important."

More Industry Headlines