Representative fluorescence reflectance image of carotid artery.

Example of preparation situs as well as in situ FRI 3 h post injection of Cy5.5-AF443. (A) Situs of left and right common carotid artery. Arrows mark the large upstream (US) plaque formation and the minor atherosclerotic lesion downstream (DS) of the implanted cuff. (B) FRI image of identical situs overlaid to a white light image in situ, showing higher signal intensity in the US region. Plaque to background ratio (P/B) is calculated by normalization of FRI to left carotid artery (depicted by white rectangle). For the fluorescence image, plaque to background ratios (P/B) are used as image units. (C) Schematic drawing of the right CCA’s longitudinal section with cuff-induced plaque formation US and DS. Modified from [9].