Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 39:28–35 (2007) Ex Vivo Imaging of Chronic Total Occlusions Using Forward-Looking Optical Coherence Tomography

interventions (PCI) of chronic total occlusions (CTOs) of arteries are more challenging lesions to treat with angioplasty and stenting than stenotic vessels due primar-ily to the difficulty in guiding the wire across the lesion. Angiography alone is unable to differentiate between the occluded lumen and the vessel wall and to characterize the content of the occlusion. New technologies to aid in interventional guidance are therefore highly desirable. We sought to evaluate tissue characterization in arterial (CTOs) by imaging ex vivo peripheral arterial samples with optical coherence tomography (OCT). Study Design/Materials and Methods: Ex vivo arterial samples were obtained from patients undergoing peripheral limb amputation. Samples were imaged in an en face orientation using an OCT system, enablin