Title:Coronary Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS): Contemporary Applications and Bases for the Future
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Author(s): Lucia Barbieri, Andrea Rognoni, Gioel G. Secco, Ettore Cassetti, Alon Schaffer, Gabriella Di Giovine, Maurizio Lazzero, Angelo S. Bongo, Paolo Marino, Giuseppe De Luca, Italo Porto and Alessandro Lupi
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Coronary artery disease, intravascular ultrasound, IVUS, percutaneous coronary intervention, virtual histology
IVUS.
Abstract: Despite the great innovations of non-invasive coronary imaging, coronary angiography still remains the gold
standard for the assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD), even if with several limitations. In fact visual assessment of
coronary stenosis is convenient and rapid, but often associated with large inter and intra-observer variability, above all in
the setting of unstable CAD with complex lesions.
Coronary intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) allows accurate tomographic assessment of the coronary lumen and wall. IVUS
has several diagnostic applications and is useful for choosing the most appropriate interventional strategy as well as for
optimizing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) results. The present review focuses on: (1) the role of IVUS to
guide therapeutic strategies in complex lesions requiring PCI, (2) IVUS capacity to interrogate borderline coronary
stenoses, (3) new perspectives and recent patents for the future of IVUS technology.
