Atherosclerotic plaque Raman spectroscopy

As mentioned in Section I, the most important driving force behind the development of in vivo Raman spectroscopy is the number of potential medical applications. The most prominent of these are the early detection of cancer and the chemical characterization of atherosclerotic plaque. 

Another point that needs to be addressed in order to increase its applicability is the combination of Raman spectroscopy with existing clinical techniques, such as intravascular ultrasound, for characterization of atherosclerotic plaque, or endoscopy. 

P. Weinmann, M. Jouan, Q. D. Nguyen, B. Lacroix, C. Groiselle, J. P. Bonte and G. Luc, Quantitative analysis of cholesterol and cholesterol esters in human atherosclerotic plaques using near-infrared Raman spectroscopy. Arteriosclerosis, 1998, 140, 81-88. 

Bakker Schut, T.C., Strijder, C., Pasterkamp, G., Puppels, G.J., and van der Laarse, A. (2003) On-line detection of cholesterol and calcification by catheter based Raman spectroscopy in human atherosclerotic plaque ex vivo. Heart, 89, 1078-1082. 

Matthaus, C., Dochow, S., Bergner, G., Lattermann, A., Romeike, B., Marple, E., Kraflt, C., Dietzek, B., Brehm, B., and Popp, J. (2012) In vivo characterization of atherosclerotic plaque depositions by Raman-probe spectroscopy and in vitro CARS microscopic imaging on a rabbit model. Anal. Chem, 84, 7845-7851. 

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