ABSTRACT
However, studies to understand the information encoded in reflected light from plaque are limited in the clinical setting. A gold standard for in vivo comparison does not exist. Comparison of in vivo OCT imaging to histology is very difficult, as the only possibilities are atherectomy specimens, that are limited by a very small sample size and the loss of tissue orientation. As an alternative, investigators have turned to human autopsy tissue12-16. However, the optical properties of tissue change after being removed from the body. OCT light reflection is in part dependent upon differences in the index of refraction, and this optical property changes from the in vivo to the ex vivo condition. As a result, we have focused our studies on in vivo atherosclerotic tissues.
