Coronary Intravascular Ultrasonography

Intravascular ultrasound is a promising new technique that provides tomographic, cross-sectional images of the vessel lumen and wall in vivo. The development of intravascular ultrasound started in the early 1970s when Bom and coworkers [1] designed a phased-array device with 32 elements mounted on a 9-F catheter tip; this system provided two-dimensional, real-time ultrasound images. The increasing use of percutaneous balloon angioplasty and the development of other interventional devices in the 1980s renewed the interest in intravascular ultrasound imaging [2]. During the past 5 years various catheter designs have been developed and are now commercially available. The experience from several centers using intravascular ultrasound indicates that this technique may have some advantages over other modalities currently used for coronary imaging.