Dissertation committee:
Φραντζέσκα Σιγάλα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντίνος Τούτουζας, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεράσιμος Φιλιππάτος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Δημήτριος Τούσουλης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Εμμανουήλ Βαβουρανάκης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεράσιμος Σιάσος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Θεόδωρος Παπαϊωάνου, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Aim. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether: 1) MWRcan be safely applied for non-invasive measurement of arterial wall temperature and 2) measurements made using the MWR technique are correlated with the measurements recorded by the IVT method and with the local inflammatory response as detected by histological techniques.Methods. The study used 24 white New Zealand rabbits (3.8 ± 0.5 kg), 12 of which were randomized to those following a normal diet, while the rest followed a cholesterol-rich diet for 6 months. All rabbits were then prepared to perform ventral aortic intravascular angiography, IVT and MWR. The aorta was divided into 5 sections of 2cm. The temperature difference (ΔT IVT, ΔT MR,) of each segment was defined as the temperature of each segment minus the minimum temperature recorded in all 5 parts of the aorta. The maximum temperature difference (ΔT IVTmax, ΔT MR,) determined the difference in the maximum temperature observed throughout the abdominal aorta minus the minimum. Thermographic measurements with both methods were correlated with each other as well as histological findings.Results. With both methods, temperature differences were higher in atherosclerotic than in the control group. In all segments, there was a positive correlation between the temperature differences detected by both methods (p <0.001, R = 0.94).A positive correlation between ΔTMR and the corresponding thickness of the atherosclerotic plaque as determined by histological methods. Aortic fragments with an increased inflammatory response had higher ΔTMR and ΔTIVT than aortic fragments with a low inflammatory response.Conclusions. MWR safely and accurately detects arterial wall temperature, which reflects the local inflammatory response and appears to have good correlation with IVT, histological and immunohistochemical findings.
