ABSTRACT
By the late 1980s, the fi rst images of human vessels were recorded by Yock and colleagues (1). Since then, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has become a pivotal catheter-based imaging technology that can provide scientifi c insights into vascular biology and practical guidance for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in clinical settings. The detailed anatomic information obtained with IVUS has proven extremely helpful in clinical practice. IVUS before intervention can help to determine the need for treatment and the optimal treatment strategy; IVUS is also invaluable in evaluating the results of stent implantation and in determining the need for adjunct intervention to optimize the result. In addition, IVUS can provide very sensitive imaging endpoints for the evaluation of new drugs and devices to facilitate smaller sample sizes and shorter study durations thereby shortening the approval process for novel technological advances. IVUS is particularly suitable because of its easy availability and its relatively high image resolution that provides accurate and reproducible measurements. The ability of IVUS to detect mild silent atherosclerosis that can be a precursor of future coronary events is superior to that of coronary angiography. Recently, intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been introduced into the clinical arena, offering higher image resolution at the expense of penetration depth in the tissue. However, the capability for interactive on-line guidance owing to the visibility of the image
transducer position on fl uoroscopy, the deeper penetration that allows imaging of the entire vessel wall, and the fact that additional contrast for repeated imaging is unnecessary are the specifi c advantages of IVUS.
