Fig. 7: Intracranial plaques from an ex vivo segment of the MCA artery.

a HF-OCT imaging of a fibrotic plaque and corresponding trichrome b and Movat’s staining c. Fibrotic tissue is characterized by HF-OCT as a region of homogenous signal, resulting from elevated backscattering and low optical attenuation coefficients. d HF-OCT imaging of a necrotic core plaque and corresponding H&E e and Movat’s staining f. A necrotic core plaque is characterized on HF-OCT images as an area with poorly delineated borders followed by an elevated optical attenuation coefficient within an atherosclerotic plaque. The asterisk indicates a vessel wall dissection. From n = 10 cadaveric specimens of intracranial arteries, a total of n = 3 representative atherosclerotic plaques were identified, processed for histopathology analysis, and compared to HF-OCT imaging. Scale bars are equal to 1.0 mm.