A novel advanced imaging technique may help specialists earlier detect deadly aortic aneurysms, according to research published in Cell Reports Medicine.

Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms or aTAAs occur when the aortic walls weaken and bulge, sometimes causing a life-threatening rupture. But a biomedical imaging method known as Raman microspectroscopy can spot fibers that reveal if an aneurysm may be developing.

Researchers led by Hiromi Yanagisawa at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and Katja Schenke-Layland at Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany, confirmed their findings in both human samples and a mouse model.

"Specific elastic fiber-derived components and collagen fiber-derived components were significantly increased in aTAA lesions in both mice and humans," the authors explained on Monday. "These human aneurysm-specific marker signatures in the elastic and collagen fibers can be used as biomarkers for aTAA diagnosis."

While there are currently no known cardiovascular biomarkers for aortic aneurysms, changes to surrounding cells—known as the extracellular matrix (ECM)—are believed to be involved in their development.

Raman imaging can pinpoint minor changes in the ECM structure, meaning this technique may be able to detect pre-aneurysmal lesions, the authors explained.

And given aTAAs may develop undetected until significant complications arise, early diagnosis could save “a great many lives,” the authors added May 24.

Read the entire study first published April 28 in Cell Reports Medicine here.