Patent ID: 7074188

Claim:
A method of characterizing vascular tissue, comprising: collecting RF backscatter data from a portion of a vascular object; using at least said RF backscatter data to construct a first image of said portion of said vascular object; preparing a histology of said portion of said vascular object; using said histology to construct a second image of said portion of said vascular object; characterizing at least a portion of said histology; identifying a region of interest (ROI) of said second image, said ROI corresponding to said at least a portion of said histology; identifying at least one landmark common to said first and second images and using said at least one landmark to identify a region of said first image that substantially corresponds to said ROI of said second image said step of identifying at least one further landmark comprising applying a morphometric algorithm to align the at least one landmark of said second image to substantially match the at least one landmark of said first image, said step of identifying at least one landmark further comprising applying a morphometric algorithm to align the at least one landmark of said second image to substantially match the at least one landmark of said first image; identifying a portion of said RF backscatter data corresponding to said region of said first image; identifying at least one parameter of said RF backscatter data; and storing said at least one parameter and said characterization of said at least a portion of said histology.