Post-processing analysis of virtual histology images - a new tool for intra-plaque component assessment

Abstract

Virtual Histology (VH) is a new medical imaging technique that allows the assessment of atheroscletoric plaque composition, a potential useful tool for the evaluation of individuals with coronary disease. In its default output, VH provides a frame-by-frame assessment of the summed absolute and relative areas of each plaque component. However, no information is currently available on the intra-plaque distribution of each component. Also, current VH analysis lack information on the presence and extension of confluent pools, which may have important pathophysiological implications. We, therefore, developed a software to extract these informations from VH images. A total of 897 coronary crosssections from 23 patients were analysed. Overall, 57% of patients were male, the average age was 58 ± 9 years and 39% were diabetics. The number and size of islands varied significantly from frame to frame in all VH components. Also the absolute size of the largest island for each component markedly differed among the frames. Importantly, the number of islands of each component varied enormously, from a large single pool comprising the whole component to multiple tiny islands of tissue. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.