Abstract

Native 476-nm laser-induced fluorescence can be used to diagnose the presence of atherosclerosis in vitro.¹ Figure 1 shows typical fluorescence spectra of a normal and diseased artery wall obtained from human cadaver aorta. Peak-to-valley ratios [i.e., I(600 m)/I(580 nm)] are often used as simple diagnostics. However, the fluorescence line shape of arterial wall and thus the peak-to-valley ratios depend significantly on the delivery/collection geometry of the detector. This occurs because tissue fluorescence and absorption both contribute to the composite tissue fluorescence line shape (Fig. 1).² Thus the collection geometry of a data acquisition system must be well defined if data are to be interpreted meaningfully.

© 1988 Optical Society of America