ABSTRACT
Normal coronary arteries, intimal dissections, and stents were imaged in five swine with OCT and compared with IVUS.7 In the normal coronary arteries, visualization of all the layers of the vessel wall was achieved with a saline flush, including the intima which was not identified by IVUS. Following dissections, detailed layered structures including intimal flaps, intimal defects and disruption of the medial wall were visualized by OCT. IVUS failed to show clear evidence of intimal and medial disruption. The microanatomic relationships between stents and the vessel walls were clearly identified only by IVUS.This study demonstrated that in vivo OCT imaging of normal coronary arteries, intimal dissections and deployed stents is feasible, and identification of clinically relevant coronary artery morphology with high-resolution and contrast. In this preclinical study the mechanical properties of the OCT catheter were found to be almost identical to those of the IVUS catheter.
