Intracoronary OCT-polarimetry for assessing collagen remodeling and its role in coronary plaque progression and destabilization

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22923
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0903:Organ-based internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka Metropolitan University (2022); Osaka City University (2020-2021)
• Principal Investigator: Otsuka Kenichiro 大阪公立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 講師 (60726074)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 動脈硬化 / コラーゲン / 細胞外マトリックス / 心筋梗塞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intracoronary polarization-sensitive (PS) optical coherence tomography (OCT) console was introduced at Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine. After approval by the Ethics Committee, patients with coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention were enrolled in the first-in-human study of intracoronary PS-OCT in Japan. We enrolled patients with chronic coronary syndrome (n=6) and acute coronary syndrome (n=5). Differences in birefringence were observed for thrombi due to plaque rupture or erosion, and for stratified plaques considered to be a healing process of the vascular endothelium. The birefringence of the responsible lesion in patients with acute coronary syndrome was lower than that in patients with chronic coronary syndrome, suggesting differences in extracellular matrix properties. We plan to increase the number of patients and perform imaging analysis of follow-up cases in the future.

Free Research Field

循環器内科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、臨床的血管内イメージングと分子生物学的手法を組み合わせ、コラーゲンリモデリングを標的としたプラーク不安定化の病態マーカーと新規治療法を開発につながる。