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A novel ultrasound-assisted laser technique to remove atherosclerotic plaques

Atherosclerosis is a medical condition in which arteries hardens and narrows due to the buildup of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substance. It can affect arteries of heart, brain, arms, legs, pelvis, and kidney, resulting in ischemic heart disease, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and chronic kidney disease. Laser based treatment techniques like laser angioplasty and carotid artery laser endarterectomy can be used to treat most common atherosclerosis disease like ischemic heart disease and carotid artery disease. Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) is a clinical technique to remove the arterial plaque. However, the use of ELCA remains low due to higher risk of complication and its low efficacy in removing plaques as compared with balloon angioplasty. In this study, we developed a novel technology that uses ultrasound along with laser to assist the removal of atherosclerotic plaque. Spatio-temporally synchronized pulsed laser and ultrasound was used. The preliminary experiments were performed on pig belly fat sample to find the optimal ultrasound and laser parameters. The final experiment was performed on the plaque samples collected from patient during carotid endarterectomy procedure. Our results show that the addition of ultrasound can effectively reduce the needed laser power, which could result in improved treatment safety and efficiency.