INTRAVASCULAR IMAGING

IVUS is used for diagnostics, therapy guidance and scientific purposes. It is the only clinical available technique that can assess plaque burden and free lumen diameter at high accuracy. Contrast angiography, which was the golden standard before IVUS, can only give a shadow projection of the lumen. Especially with the advent of 3D IVUS using pull backs it became an important tool for monitoring treatment and follow up of interventions like balloon angioplasty and placing of stents (wire prostheses that are used to prevent the arterial wall from recoiling). 3D IVUS in combination with biplane angiography allows assessment of true 3D reconstructions of arteries, pre and post treatment. Using computational fluid dynamics the velocity profile and thus the shear stress at the vascular wall can be calculated. This can be related to biological markers, which gives insight in formation of atherosclerosis, restenosis and remodelling.