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Researchers are working on a new type of medical imaging technology that could diagnose cardiovascular disease by measuring ultrasound signals from molecules exposed to fast-pulsing laser.

The technology will be soon commercialized, researchers said. 

The system takes precise three-dimensional images of plaques lining arteries and identifies deposits that are likely to rupture and cause heart attacks, said Ji-Xin Cheng (pronounced Jee-Shin), a professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, in the press release. 

"This allows us to see the exact nature of plaque formation in the walls of arteries so we can define whether plaque is going to rupture," said Michael Sturek, co-author of the paper and a professor and chair of the Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology at Indiana University School of Medicine. "Some plaques are more dangerous than others, but one needs to know the chemical makeup of the blood vessel wall to determine which ones are at risk of rupturing."

The technology has been described in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.