Optical Coherence Tomography Layer Thickness Characterization of a Mock Artery during Angioplasty Balloon Deployment

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is used to study the deformation of a mock artery in an angioplasty simulation setup. An OCT probe integrated in a balloon catheter provides intraluminal real-time images during balloon inflation. Swept-source OCT is used for imaging. A 4 mm semi-compliant polyurethane balloon is used for experiments. The balloon is inflated inside a custom-built multi-layer artery phantom. The phantom has three layers to mock artery layers, namely, intima, media and adventitia. Semi-automatic segmentation of phantom layers is performed to provide a detailed assessment of the phantom deformation at various inflation pressures. Characterization of luminal diameter and thickness of different layers of the mock artery is provided for various inflation pressures.