Selective removal of cholesteryl ester in atherosclerotic plaque bynanosecond pulsed laser at 5.75 μm for less-invasive laser angioplasty

摘要

Laser angioplasty, for example XeCI excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA), has gained more attention for the treatment of serious stenosis blocked by plaque. Low degrees of thermal damage after ablation of atherosclerotic plaques have been achieved by ELCA. However, the large number of risks associated with the procedure, for example, dissections or perforations of the coronary arteries limits its application. A laser treatment technique with high ablation efficiency but low arterial wall injury is desirable. Mid-infrared laser with a wavelength of 5.75 um is selectively well absorbed in C=O stretching vibration mode of ester bonds in cholesteryl ester. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of nanosecond pulsed laser at 5.75 um irradiation for atherosclerotic plaques. We made a study on the irradiation effect to atherosclerotic plaques in tunica intima in a wet condition. In this study, we used a mid-infrared tunable solid-state laser which is operated by difference-frequency generation, with a wavelength of 5.75 μM, a pulse width of 5 ns and a pulse repetition rate of 10 Hz as a treatment light source, and a thoracic aorta of WHHLMI rabbit as an atherosclerosis model. As a result, less-invasive interaction parameters for removing atherosclerotic plaques were confirmed. This study shows that the nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation at 5.75 μm is a powerful tool for selective and less-invasive treatment of atherosclerotic plaques.