A multi-point sensor to measure pressures across vascular stenoses

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The objective of the proposed research is to complete the development and ex vivo testing of a multi-point pressure sensing system integrated into an angiographic guidewire. This system will be used as a diagnostic tool to assist in therapeutic decisions for percutaneous coronary interventions such as balloon angioplasty and stents. The system will consist of multiple pressure sensors deployed along the length of a single angiographic guide wire. Individual sensors will be based on a common fibre-optic device, the in-fibre Bragg grating. In clinical use, patients will be catheterized by percutaneous femoral approach and the guide wire will be positioned such that the sensors span the target stenosis This system will simultaneously measure dynamic pressures at multiple stations along the length of a stenotic region or, in the case of serial lesions, stenotic regions. It will, therefore, provide physicians with much more detailed and accurate information about the severity of stenoses than existing pressure sensing technologies. Upon completion of this work, the system will be suitable for in vivo testing in an animal model.