Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) imaging reaching 100 MHz

Clinically used Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) imaging majorly operates in the 20∼40MHz range, providing resolution on the order of 100μm. Recent reports showed the potential of higher frequency (60–80MHz) of IVUS improving resolution to the level of 30–60μm, but still inferior to the resolution of OCT (10μm). Whether increasing the working frequency a step further could make IVUS comparable to OCT? What are the challenges we have to face and what are the pros and cons when driving IVUS on extreme high frequency? We have no clear answer yet. In this research, we report a few preliminary results on IVUS imaging closed to 100MHz, including the fabrication of 95MHz IVUS transducer and ex vivo imaging test.